Posted on 04/06/2009 10:52:31 AM PDT by jazusamo
In a blow to Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon has decided to purchase to end funding of the F-22 fighter jet.
The decision by Defense Secretary Robert Gates will rouse widespread opposition in Congress and is likely to bog down the 2010 budget approval process, with F-22 supporters maneuvering to secure more money.
The Pentagon will fund four of the radar-evading stealth fighters in the upcoming 2009 emergency war-spending request, but those additional aircraft will do little to keep the production line in Marietta, Ga., open beyond 2011. Lockheed Martin is the main contractor for the F-22, each of which costs about $140 million.
Gates announced the decision at a press conference on the Defense budget on Monday afternoon.
No money will be requested in the fiscal 2010 budget, congressional and industry sources familiar with the budget briefings told The Hill. Gates has been making calls to the chairmen of the congressional defense committees.
The final F-22 of the 183 currently on order will be delivered at the end of 2011. Building another four would keep the line open for only a few months beyond that end date.
Lockheed Martin and its subcontractors, including Boeing, in recent weeks have stepped up their campaign to keep the production line open. They argue that 25,000 people work directly for the 1,000 suppliers of the F-22 in 44 states, and another 70,000 indirectly owe their jobs to this program.
So, anyone who’s concerned about the insanely escalating costs of hi-tech military gear is disloyal.
F*** you, colonel.
Okay, I might be able to buy the fact that the F22 is essential for air superiority over the likes of North Korea and Iran (though don’t we have that already even without the F22?), but what’s the point of having air superiority over Russia and China these days?
Any war against either of these two nuclear powers would immediately devolve into lobbing hundreds of nukes at each other from long range. Lack of F22s would be the least of our problems at that point.
Supposing the Islamofascists get complete control of Pakistan and its nukes. You don’t think we just might need some sophisticated weapons to take out the Pak. military? You think we might not need them to take out the Iranian nukes? Or the N. Korean offensive capability? We are very stupid if we think our only enemies are a bunch of towelheads in Afghanistan. Our real enemies, China and Russia, use surrogates like Iran and DPRK to tie us down and waste our resources while they continue to build up their forces.
your wording cracked me up... who is Congress planning to prematurely kill? Wouldn't impeachment be a better option?
Yes, we don’t have enough 5th generation fighters.
The rotary winged division of Aerospatiale became Eurocopter. The rest of Aerospatiale was absorbed into EADS.
LoL! I see now. Dang that dangling modifier. ;-)
BTTT
"Professor"?
You ought to be sitting in the corner of the classroom with a dunce cap on.
Notice I refrained from stringing certain words together so that search engines wouldn’t be able to accuse FR of plotting something (via bad grammar).
I predict there are going be lots of layoffs soon in Connecticut... probably lots of Obama UNION voters!
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20090224.aspx
It’s only partly the per unit cost, the F-22 is something of a white elephant that is expensive to maintain with shrinking military budgets.
You don't know scat. Neither the Corps or NAVAIR was ever interested in the F-22.
Thanks for your links, Norm. I just can’t buy Gates’ reasoning on this and wonder if he really believes it.
“Any war against either of these two nuclear powers would immediately devolve into lobbing hundreds of nukes at each other from long range”
That sounds so DU; illogical, simple minded, and defeatist. What makes you think a war with China turns into a nuke fest? You really think the leaders of China want to rule over radioactive waste?
If Russia and China are able to develop stealth fighters then they can sell them to the likes of Iran and North Korea and hence we need the F-22.
95,000 jobs lost
Are these the “saved” or the “created” jobs that Obambi promised.
I’ve seen the F22 at airshows. It’s unreal. Hope that the new president in ‘12 restarts the line (ala Reagan and the B1).
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