Posted on 01/06/2011 5:22:10 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Gates expected to slice orders for F-35 as part of spending cuts
By Bob Cox
rcox@star-telegram.com
Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to cut orders for the F-35 joint strike fighter over the next three to five years as part of broader plan to reduce Pentagon spending by $100 billion, analysts say.
Gates will brief Congress today on a five-year spending plan for the Defense Department, including yet another restructuring of the F-35 program to compensate for repeated delays in development and testing.
Defense analysts said few details of Gates' intentions have surfaced, but he is widely expected to announce cancellation of the Marines' $13 billion Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, another weapons program plagued by years of delays and rising costs. Analysts said they also expect one or more other big-ticket weapons programs to be targeted as part of the 2012 budget proposal that President Barack Obama will send to Congress next month.
But the Pentagon will likely just scale back the number of F-35s it had previously planned to order from Lockheed Martin over the next few years to pay for continued development and testing, they say.
The Pentagon's commitment to the F-35 hasn't lessened, but Gates has to find a way to pay for the delays and higher costs, said Loren Thompson, consultant to defense contractors and chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute think tank.
"The most likely outcome is a cut in the rate of purchases," Thompson said.
"The problem with the F-35 is it is a program that can't go away. All the services are wedded to this," said Chris Hellman, policy analyst with
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
I didn't know Microsoft ordered jet fighters..
Not surprised. The Chinese announce they are a developing a fighter that looks almost exactly like the F-22, and now this.
You know gates is a worm when he stays on as Sec. of Defense from the Bush administration. Nothing but globalists.
One day... this bastid needs to be tried for treason... he is not alone.
LLS
They’ll cut the order and then the price per jet goes up and the taxpayers get screwed because fewer planes end up costing the same.
Sure, cut military spending. While wasteful social programs and earmarks continue utterly out of control.
China and Russia seem to be rolling out new aircraft every year. They are ramping up in aircraft and missiles in large numbers and we continue to trim ours. ID YE UTS!
bump
But hey, hussein obama is a global socialist. He sees it as his job to deliver to the world a weaker US. A US with a weak enough economy (al-la the old Soviet Union at the end there) that we cannot act unilaterally on the world stage. Cutting military programs just blunts the spear, killing the economy prevents us from recovering anytime soon.
If there is anything resembling justice left in this Country, Gates, Pelosi, Reid, hussein obama, and others would be tried for treason and at the very least spend the rest of their lives in prison. They are not in any way upholding their oaths to the US, and are in fact intentionally damaging the US.
Well... Maybe LMCO can offshore production of the F-35 to China. Then we can afford to buy all we want...... Right?
After all, it seems to be a business model that works for the rest of American manufacturers.... Right?Long live free trade.
Oh... what? we can’t do that? The Chi-Coms would find out all our secrets?
I think the Chi-Coms already figured out stealth via Bubba Clinton’s Cray computer deal.
This is a political—not budgetary—decision. How can it be anything else in view of Chinese and Russian public attempts to build counters to the F-35?
This is all about The Usurping Marxist Onada’s relentless agenda to not only weaken America but make it a weak third world country.
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