Gates Really Doesn't Want the F22
When it comes to next-generation of U.S. fighter jets, Defense Sec. Robert Gates is no fan of the beleaguered F-22 Raptor. In fact, Gates last week told the Economic Club of Chicago that for Congress to approve funds to continue development of the F-22 would be “risking the future of U.S. air supremacy.” For his, actually your $1 trillion, Gates prefers the F-35 Lighting.
Despite a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report placing the cost of building and operating the proposed fleet of 2,456 F-35 Lightning IIs for the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps for the next 25 years at over $1 trillion, Gates said the F-35 “is 10- to 15 years newer, less than half the cost, carries a much larger suite of weapons, and is technologically superior.”
Referring to the plane as “a niche silver-bullet solution for one or two potential scenarios,” Gates declared the F-22 too little bang for too many bucks. “The grim reality is that with regard to the budget, we have entered a zero-sum game," he said. “Every defense dollar diverted to fund excess or unneeded capacity is a dollar that will be unavailable to take care of our people, to win the wars we are in, to deter political adversaries and to improve capabilities in areas where America is underinvested and potentially vulnerable.”
Gates said that was a risk he was unwilling to take. “If the Department of Defense can't figure out a way to defend the United States on a budget of more than half a trillion dollars a year, then our problems are much bigger than anything that can be cured by a few more ships and planes.”
Despite program cuts like eliminating the F-22, Gates noted that the current proposed FY 2010 defense budget of $534 billion still represented a modest increase over the previous proposal of $524 billion. “Only in the parallel universe that is Washington, D.C., would that be considered 'gutting' defense,” he said.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (S. 1390) is currently debated by the Senate, where some Senators have vowed to save the F-22. A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the bill places the total estimated costs for military functions of the Department of Defense for FY 2010 at $681 billion.
Also See:
F-22 Cut Draws Cheers and Jeers
Congress Members Vow to Save the F-22
The Federal Budget Process
Comments
Robert Gates is on track to become the 21st century Robert McNamara, another whiz kid. We know how that turned out.