http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4295522&c=AIR&s=TOP
Posted on 10/01/2009 5:02:05 PM PDT by Flavius
Senate defense appropriators on Wednesday opted against funding an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, handing President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates an initial victory.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4295522&c=AIR&s=TOP
Not nice. They have already spent 2.5 BILLION dollars on the second engine and now they want to scrap it when it is getting close to done and hand a 100 Billion dollar 30 year monopoly to a single source that will handle the main plane for 3 branches of the military? It is foolish.
How is an underpowered or unreliable aircraft engine, that powers an airplane that is scheduled to replace every fighter/attack plane in the Navy/Marine Corps fleet, a victory for anyone, but especially the SecDef and POTUS. Who are they rooting for? Am I missing something?
The article is also dated wrong. This was the Senate Appropriations committee. Happened early September and the real article is dated 9/9. It remains to be seen what will be sent to Obama.
Is this the same defense bill that has the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill attached to it? NO ONE is paying any attention to that!
Does the engine technology require safe, secure, adequate amounts of rare earth elements? Probably. If so, do we have them? Maybe not, who knows? China holds about 97% of rare earths in 2 Mongolian mines, and, is limiting exports of same.
Are these not the same people who were critical of the equipment our soldiers had in Iraq. They questioned the flak jackets, the Hum-Vee and other vehicles, and other equipment. They vote to cancel the F-22 and an engine for the F-35, and hope that by 2012 the voters will have forgotten. Not me. I will never forget what Gates and Obama are doing to our men. They are stripping them of the best equipment. Thank goodness that clowns like this when the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor. Our pilots would have gone to Midway in Sopwith Camels. These people are dangerous to our country, our troops, and ourselves.
Given our abilities, we should never send our troops to battle without the best we can provide. Arm yourself with facts. Find out about the abilities of the F-22 and the
F-35 as designed. Find out which Senators voted against their production and vote them out. This is the greatest country, but it will not remain so if we are lazy. Dig for facts and get rid of them like you would a nest of ground bees.
The list, ping
.....handing Emperor Barack Obama, POS Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and all the enemies of the U.S. (past, present and future) an initial victory.
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