Posted on 03/24/2011 5:18:40 PM PDT by Blogger
The U.S. Defense Department ordered GE and Rolls-Royce to stop production on a second engine for the F-35 joint strike fighter Thursday.
The government said they want them to wait until the fiscal 2012 budget is complete and there is a better direction of how the project will look.
Hundreds of employees in Indiana are directly tied to the project. Rolls-Royce is the city`s second largest manufacturer behind Eli Lilly.
In a statement from the fighter engine team they said they are "disappointed with the U.S. Department of Defense decision which goes against the precedent to continue funding for this important competitive program under prior short-term continuing resolutions."
Congress both appropriates and authorizes money.
Slowing down government is fine with me too. I like gridlock. I don’t like stupid decisions like this one though because I believe it puts our military readiness at risk. You are 75% done with a program that has been funded for well over a decade. Makes no sense to cancel it now. Go after something that doesn’t involve national defense.
Want to bet Obama-lama-ding-dong does a Jimmah Cahtah and the B-1?
It was the SCOTUS, not Congress, but a Dem is a Dem........
http://law.jrank.org/pages/9356/Presidential-Powers-Power-Impoundment.html
I thought about that.
I heard on our afternoon radio show GE is continuing development with their own money.
The stop work order stops the work though while the 2011 CR is still in effect - this circumventing the expressed intent of Congress. The Secretary of Defense is not an island. I imagine he will have some splainin’ to do once Congress is back in session.
/johnny
That is in GE’s statement on the subject. But not sure what all that will entail. How do you work an engine program without DoD support? There needs to be some Congressional direction.
I don’t like the idea of a President being able to circumvent Congressional intent though - just because he doesn’t like something. That’s a king or a dictator, not a President.
I don’t like the idea of a President being able to circumvent Congressional intent though - just because he doesn’t like something. That’s a king or a dictator, not a President.
As a former zoomie, I follow all things related to AF. I'm fine with not having a 2nd engine for the F-35. I'd rather have the money spent on unmanned fighters and bombers.
I will check out alleys before I pass them, in case the fighter mafia wants to do me in for that heresy, but I've studied air power HARD since 1980. We need to move forward to Gen 6 (unmanned) and leave gen 5 like we did the B-57 Hustler. Great plane. Wrong plane.
/johnny
/johnny
They may have traction though with non-Gates folks in the government.
So, maybe they will make Gates simmer down until Congress decides the engine’s fate.
Waste of money and eff GE. The USA is broke. Deal with it.
“We didn’t have these problems in WWII.”
I’m going to have to disagree. If memory serves they lost a test pilot about every 2 weeks at Edwards during that time with more at Pax.
It is not just the CEO. The GE internal culture is like the mafia. Nasty people. Screw em. Screw union defense line workers too. They support Obama. The country is broke.
That BS even if it's true.
A CR ties the DoD's hands in so many ways because it doesn't have an approved FY11 budget. Pelosi and Reid did this on purpose, and left a mess for the Republicans. The CR freezes spending at the FY10 rate, and the DoD has (HAS) to pay for O&M because without doing so, it cannot operate day to day. If things were not bad enough, every service has been given about $30 Billion in "efficiencies" (read - CUTS!) it has to implement.
It doesn't matter what the "stance" of the CR is. There isn't any money for procurement dollars because the current FY budget is nonexistent. The well is completely dry.
If things were still not bad enough, we have another (read: 3rd) war going on right now.
If things still, still! were not bad enough, the DoD has to go to Congress with a "supplemental" request to pay for all the crap (including operating bills that exceeded the approved budget) that came up beyond the approved FY10 budget!
If they want "jobs" and such from the DoD teat - it needs its current budget finally approved. ALL procurement will soon come to a stop unless the CRs stop.
That is just reality.
Okay, understood. But, the small amount that you might save today would add up to a projected $20B long term savings per the GAO’s estimates. So, spend a much much smaller amount today and preserve your future savings, or go after a short term drop in the bucket compared to whatever else they are spending these days to say you were ‘fiscally responsible’. Story doesn’t sell economically.
Spend lives, or money. Pick one.
/johnny
GE’s money? LOL! TARP money more like it. GE begged Obama to have the US Treasury to backstop GE’s (worthless) debt over a year ago. GE is very pro-Obama and anti-Republican. Years and years of NBC, CNBC, MSNBC and their crap. Screw GE.
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