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Lawmakers warn Navy, Marines face large fighter jet shortfall
The Hill ^ | 3/22/10 | Roxana Tiron

Posted on 03/22/2010 8:56:56 PM PDT by Nachum

The Navy and Marine Corps face a much larger shortfall of fighter jets than expected, four senior members of the House Armed Services Committee warned Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

In a letter to Gates, the lawmakers said Pentagon assumptions of a shortfall of 100 fighter jets are “too optimistic.”

Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) signed the letter along with ranking Republican Rep. Buck McKeon (Calif.). Two other panel members with jurisdiction over Navy programs, Reps. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) and Todd Akin (R-Mo.), also signed the letter to Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; bhodod; defensespending; dfens; lawmakers; nationalsecurity; navair; navy; shortfall; warn
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1 posted on 03/22/2010 8:56:56 PM PDT by Nachum
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To: Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori; EricTheRed_VocalMinority; ...

The list, ping


2 posted on 03/22/2010 8:57:35 PM PDT by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: Nachum
The Navy and Marine Corps face a much larger shortfall of fighter jets than expected, four senior members of the House Armed Services Committee warned Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Get used to it. In cradle-to-grave welfare states, the military is not a priority - just look at Europe.
3 posted on 03/22/2010 9:01:17 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Nachum

Hey, we can’t defend ourselves, but at least we’ll all have healthcare when our asses get handed to us by the Chi-Coms....


4 posted on 03/22/2010 9:02:49 PM PDT by freebilly (No wonder the left has a boner for Obama. There's CIALIS in soCIALISt....)
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To: Nachum

Well, Obama has to get the money for his health reform plan somewhere. Why not take it from the military?? Thank you Carter, Clinton, and now Obama for screwing the military.


5 posted on 03/22/2010 9:03:07 PM PDT by Nitehawk0325 (I have the right to remain silent, but I lack the ability...........)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
Exactly right. Europe could afford cradle-to-grave socialist welfare because the U.S. filled their defense gap. Luckily the U.S. can adopt cradle-to-grave socialist welfare because...

Hey! Wait a second there...

6 posted on 03/22/2010 9:04:49 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Jet Jaguar

Ping.


7 posted on 03/22/2010 9:09:02 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Nachum

bigger government less defense....thats rational


8 posted on 03/22/2010 9:13:58 PM PDT by dalebert
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To: Army Air Corps

Bump


9 posted on 03/22/2010 9:22:40 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar (*)
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To: Nitehawk0325

Maybe we can go back to fighting on horseback, with longbows/s;)


10 posted on 03/22/2010 9:30:33 PM PDT by Frank_2001
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To: Nachum

Sounds to me like . . .

THIS SET-UP

IS A DELIBERATE SET-UP

TO INVITE

attacks by Russia, China, Iran, Lybia, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, et al . . .

to help insure that America is tooooooo destroyed to hinder the global government rising more overtly asap.


11 posted on 03/22/2010 9:32:09 PM PDT by Quix (BLOKES who got us where we R: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81)
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To: Nachum

Good thing we cut up all those Tomcats so no spare parts would not fall into the hands of the Iranians.

The good news is [from one point of view] that the Marines probably need something more like the A6 than the F14. The bads new is that the A6s have [with limited exceptions?] have also been retired. Not sure about the Harriers, but ...?

Seriously, all airframes age ... but most aircraft are airworthy on their last day of service and their service life can be extended for a very long time ... even given the demands of carrier landings and the corrosive effects of the oceans.


12 posted on 03/22/2010 9:34:12 PM PDT by R W Reactionairy ("Everyone is entitled to their own opinion ... but not to their own facts" Daniel Patrick Moynihan)
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To: Frank_2001
That wouldn't work either. The environmentalists whack-jobs would complain about the horse's farting and leaving horse crap all over the place. I'd rather step in horse crap than a leftist politician's bullshit.
13 posted on 03/22/2010 10:51:36 PM PDT by Nitehawk0325 (I have the right to remain silent, but I lack the ability...........)
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To: R W Reactionairy

“Good thing we cut up all those Tomcats so no spare parts would not fall into the hands of the Iranians.”

Hey! We don’t even fly F-14’s anymore, do we? I thought those had been retired years ago. Maybe we should get those F-4’s out of mothballs (providing they are Navy). 8o)

Yep, you can keep those planes flying, but it takes lotsa’ gold to do it. When the F18’s came online, no one expected to put so many cycles on them, but wars have a tendency to do that.

I have a nephew that thought he would be going down to Pensacola for primary, but that appears to be less likely now. I pointed out that the airlines are exactly a hotbed of hiring now. Likely they’ll have no problem retaining pilots. Still, in the end, pilots are just another commodity just like airframes or fuel or oil. When you don’t have seats for ‘em, you RIF ‘em, though they are terribly expensive commodities. How many naval aircraft are there these days? 2,000? 4,000? Perhaps more than a hundred isn’t a big reduction.


14 posted on 03/22/2010 11:12:01 PM PDT by Habibi ("It is vain to do with more what can be done with less." - William of Occam)
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To: Habibi

Should have said the airlines are NOT a hotbed of hiring now.

Sorry.


15 posted on 03/22/2010 11:13:55 PM PDT by Habibi ("It is vain to do with more what can be done with less." - William of Occam)
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To: Nachum
Lawmakers warn Navy, Marines face large fighter jet shortfall

Navy, Marines warn Lawmakers face large fighter jet over Capitol Building if they don't start adhering to Constitution.

16 posted on 03/22/2010 11:34:20 PM PDT by LaybackLenny (Palin-Bachmann Overdrive 2012 - takin' care o' business!)
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To: magslinger

ping


17 posted on 03/23/2010 12:13:05 AM PDT by Vroomfondel
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To: LaybackLenny

Now we know why Barry was in such a tremendous rush to cancel the F-22 ...

Wouldn’t want to have too many of the best fighter jet in the world sitting around.

Might need them sometime

soon.


18 posted on 03/23/2010 2:19:58 AM PDT by DontTreadOnMe2009 (So stop treading on me already!)
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To: R W Reactionairy

The A-6 Intruder fleet was re-winged back in the early 80’s, IIRC. Later on they detected cracks in the wing boxes and they had another decision — re-wing them again, or scrap them.

You only get so many traps (carrier landings) before the airframe is trashed.


19 posted on 03/23/2010 5:37:40 AM PDT by Tallguy ("The sh- t's chess, it ain't checkers!" -- Alonzo (Denzel Washington) in "Training Day")
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To: Habibi

The F-4’s in mothballs are rapidly being used up as target drones (QF-4’s). They are already making plans to use early-block F-16’s as replacements as they are running out of Phantoms.


20 posted on 03/23/2010 5:39:03 AM PDT by Tallguy ("The sh- t's chess, it ain't checkers!" -- Alonzo (Denzel Washington) in "Training Day")
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