Thank God for that.
I just wish they would order a lot more.
Posted on 07/07/2009 2:38:34 PM PDT by Red Steel
One of the Senate leaders on defense issues on Tuesday played down the Obama administration’s threat to veto a major Pentagon bill over additional Lockheed Martin F-22 fighter jets and a second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that he did not foresee a veto over the authorized funds for seven more F-22s and for a second Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) engine produced by General Electric and Rolls Royce.
The Pentagon did not request any funds for either program for its 2010 budget.
“I do not foresee a veto on those two issues,” Levin told reporters on Tuesday. In a recent statement of administration policy, the Office of Management and Budget singled out those two programs as issues prompting a veto recommendation to the president.
Even though there is a recommendation for a veto, Levin added, “It does not mean it will be.”
Levin said President Obama will likely receive a 2010 defense authorization bill with which he will agree 98 percent. Obama would have to find issues of “fundamental principle” to veto the defense bill, Levin said, casting doubt that the F-22 and the JSF engine would be such issues.
The F-22 and the engine “are matters of great concern” and they are only two of about 20 big issues, Levin said. There are another “16 or 18 issues that we agree with the president,” he added.
Levin and committee ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) did not support authorizing more funds for seven more F-22s in 2010. But Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), in whose state Lockheed builds the planes, won narrow approval (13-11) for an amendment he offered during the committee’s closed mark up of the 2010 defense authorization bill.
Levin and McCain vowed to fight the amendment when the bill comes to the floor. But Levin said Tuesday that it could come down to a very close vote.
Levin said that the defense authorization bill could come up on the Senate floor as early as this week.
Levin supports funding for a second JSF engine. McCain does not.
Thank God for that.
I just wish they would order a lot more.
When is McCain going to get the boot?
Whenever it is, it will be too late. I appreciate his military service while loathing his political career.
What I don’t understand is the opposition to the F-22 at all. I thought the F-22 is a strategic superiority system that is supposed to replace the F-15.
The thought process is that the JSF is “good enough” and a lot cheaper.
While true vs a lot of the world, the JSF is a multirole plane. The F22 is pure air superiority (altough I’m sure it can function in an attack role). A relatively small number of F22s could probably take out just about any other airforce in the world. They’re that good. Then the JSFs and even older planes (say B52s) can do their thing with impunity.
IMHO, in war, overkill ability is good, so F22s are good...
There is a pretty simple solution to all this, which is to sell 100 of so completely USA-produced samples to Japan, with a lot of black-boxing and all sensitive maintenance 2b performed by USAF and US industry personnel, with seals on sensitive black-boxes, AESA radar, and all fire control source-code to be American...
This would get Japan hugely effective fighters, would protect our secrets, boost USA jobs, and provide a very effective deterrant against PRC, NK...
If you must fight never fight fair. Always dominate, overwhelm and attack. There is nothing better than a lopsided victory so long as you are the victor.
And a fighter wing of Raptor pilots would enjoy a Sukhoi / MiG turkey shoot!
Agree 100%!
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