Next Administration to Call on F-22s

[unhappycamper]

Next Administration to Call on F-22s
Mclatchy -Tribune News Service | By Dave Montgomery | February 06, 2008

WASHINGTON - After months of open disagreement between the Air Force and leaders in the Pentagon over the size of the nation's F-22 Raptor fleet, the Bush administration has opted to leave the decision up to the next administration.

As expected, President Bush's $515.4 billion defense budget funds the last 20 F-22s under a multiyear purchasing plan but does not include money to shut down production of the Lockheed Martin fighter plane.

The Pentagon leadership has insisted for months that the production line should be closed after 2011, but Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England eased away from that position recently by telling members of Congress that the line would stay open to build a few F-22s to replace warplanes destroyed in combat.

The Pentagon had maintained that production should be capped at 183 while Air Force leaders contended that the service needs at least 381 to maintain U.S. air superiority.

In unveiling the defense budget on Monday, Pentagon comptroller Tina Jonas said the Defense Department hasn't changed its view that the fleet should be capped at 183 aircraft. But she added: "I do believe, though, that the next administration will have to make the call on what they want to do ultimately.''


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,161498,00.html



uhc comment: Psssst. These puppies are $330,000,000 a pop.

[DrDan]

1. they are expensive, but . . . .

we could purchase 21 a month at the current rate of the Iraq war.

Also, sure would like to see the Pentagon be driving these decisions, rather than the politically appointed civilian leaders.

[Sherman A1]

2. The question in my opinion is

maintain air superiority from whom? Who has an aircraft that can best what we currently fly? Should we continue to develop new technologies.... certainly. Should we buy this aircraft in quantity... I don't think so.

[sam sarrha]

3. the F22 is special.. i worked on it, the Joint Strike Fighter was a rip off, they chose the inferior

plane,.. Should be investigated for RICO Violations, that piece of shit will never fly, and the rest of our planes are really old.

[Sherman A1]

4. I am not questioning the performance of either a/c

but the need for them and hence the cost. The F15 & F16 are certainly getting old, but new airframes can be built at much lower costs, new engines can replace tired ones, new electronics can upgrade systems that need to be upgraded. Certainly there are other aircraft being designed by other countries, yet how many will actually be in service in any quantity to be a serious threat to our national defense? Since we already spend as much as the rest of the world combined on defense, just who (or combination of who) can really be a threat to us?

[sam sarrha]

5. the F22 is designed to fly in stealth in the first attack and take out the radar and defenses for

the older planes.. because, as i said the JSF will never fly, the ReThugs Pork Barreled the present plane in, and it is a piece of shit that will never fly...

[Sherman A1]

6. So is the F117

and while appreciating that radar systems will improve, so will radar countermeasures. I think the JSF is a complete waste of money as I believe the F22 happens to be. We also have a wealth of stand-off munitions in the form or cruise missiles that can take out radar sites without exposing any pilot to harm. Would we not be better to work on improvements to these weapon systems rather than bloated aircraft budgets. Defense spending simply must be reigned in as we are unilaterally disarming with ever increasing costs of systems that we cannot afford to risk in combat (which of course would be a better idea to avoid in the first place).