Free Republic

Part 1Part 2Part 3

It's the most expensive fighter jet ever built. Yet the F-22 Raptor has never seen a day of combat, and its future is clouded by a government safety investigation that has grounded the jet for months. The fleet of 158 F-22s, including those in Alaska, has been sidelined since May 3 after more than a dozen incidents in which oxygen was cut off to pilots, making them woozy. The malfunction is suspected of contributing to at least one fatal accident, in Alaska. At an estimated cost of $412 million each, the F-22s amount to about $65 billion sitting on the...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) introduced legislation to raise the debt ceiling this week. In evaluating his plans for future government spending, it becomes clear that budgeting for prudent defense is considered just another line item. While Americans intuitively know that national security is unlike any other category of federal spending, it is often treated with inherent bias through insider budgeting methods. Congress tends to selectively ignore what are called “baselines” used for comparing different spending proposals. This is convenient if a Member of Congress wants to generate more phantom cuts to appease a core audience—or, worse, to not...

"A lot of the spending cuts that we're making should be around areas like defense spending as opposed to food stamps," President Obama told in an interview with NPR.

Representative Paul Ryan (Wisc.-1) and the House GOP released their ten-year budget entitled "The Path to Prosperity" [pdf] to much fanfare on Capitol Hill yesterday, laying out an alternative to President Obama's proposal. Compared to baseline numbers, the Path to Prosperity spends $5.8 trillion less, and $6.2 trillion less than the President's budget over the next ten years. The largest spending cuts come from the discretionary budget, both defense ($830 billion) and non-defense ($1.6 trillion). Rep. Ryan's defense budget accepts the proposals laid out by defense Secretary Robert Gates and endorsed by President Obama, but cuts spending in every other...

US naval aviation back on the rise © Northrop Grumman How Northrop Grumman sees the carrier deck of 2020 Retired Vice Adm Robert Dunn remembers being called to the Secretary of the Navy's office. It was 1989 and the US Navy was still at the peak of its Cold War, 600-ship glory. Defence spending, however, was already in decline and the navy's top civilian, Henry Garrett, had a tough decision to make. As deputy chief of naval operations for aviation, Dunn's portfolio included two projects for a carrier-based, long-range strike aircraft - a re-engined Grumman A-6E Intruder called the A-6F...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-02-14-budgetinside14_ST_N.htm?csp=34news For five years running, two presidents have tried to eliminate funding for a backup engine on a fighter jet, a program Defense Secretary Robert Gates calls unnecessary. Congress, however, has rebuffed the White House and continues to fund the $465-million-a-year alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, amid intense lobbying by General Electric, the corporate giant working with Rolls-Royce to develop that engine. General Electric's aggressive outreach ranges from running ads on the subway cars that congressional staffers take to work to deploying dozens of well-connected lobbyists to Capitol Hill and the Pentagon.... ...Among the new lawmakers backing...

Will this be the year that Congress takes after the defense budget, seeing it not as holy writ laid down by an unchallengeable priesthood but rather as a political document hammered out by competing bureaucracies, each with long-standing vested interests? It's a bubbling brew out there, the Tea Party Republicans keen to slash any and all federal programs, joined in a potential alliance of convenience with liberal Democrats seeking to kill big-ticket weapons slammed as pork-barrel waste or Cold War antiques. The Obama administration's proposed defense budget for fiscal year 2012, rolled out Monday afternoon by Secretary of Defense Robert...

Supreme Court justices seemed in general agreement Tuesday that the best way to resolve a long-running, billion-dollar dispute between the government and two big defense contractors is to say, in Justice Antonin Scalia's words, "Go away."... That was the apparent sentiment of the court toward a contract dispute over the A-12 Avenger attack plane, canceled by the Pentagon in 1991 when Richard Cheney was defense secretary...

Aerojet, a GenCorp company, announced today that it shipped the last F-22 Raptor forward boom to The Boeing Company in Seattle, Wash. This completed the 10th lot of a procurement that spanned 17 years in support of the Boeing/Lockheed Martin/U.S. Air Force team. Aerojet has been under contract to The Boeing Company on the F-22 Raptor air dominance fighter program since 1993 and has delivered 394 booms. The company was honored by Boeing as its Supplier of the Year in 2005 and 2007, and its gold and silver supplier for 2009 and 2010. "Our success is a testament to the...

On August 31 President Obama announced the end of “combat operations” in Iraq, while proclaiming “the military efforts the nation has made since 9/11 had shortchanged investments in our own people and contributed to record deficits.” It’s no secret that progressives consider Defense as a waste of money that would be better served funding more entitlement programs. As Obama promised them “What I won’t do is cut back on investments like education.” As a Commander and Chief Obama seems determined to throw the military under the bus and squander its budget. Latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office estimate that...

Alongside another controversial provision in the 2011 defense authorization bill pending in Congress is language that illustrates the continuing challenge of taxpayer support for elective abortions. Included in the version of the bill that emerged from the Senate Armed Services Committee is an amendment sponsored by Sen. Roland Burris (D–IL) that would allow the use of military facilities around the world for “pre-paid� abortions.The policy at stake has a long history, but for most of the past four decades, decisions by various Administrations and laws adopted by Congress have limited public funding for abortions in military hospitals as well as...

Virginia officials reacted with bipartisan dismay on Monday to Defense Department budget shifts that will cost the state thousands of jobs in coming years and will dramatically impact the economies of the Norfolk area and Northern Virginia. Most of the immediate reaction revolved around Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates's proposal to close the U.S. Joint Forces Command. It is a major employer in Hampton Roads, including Norfolk and Virginia Beach, whose elimination could translate into the loss of 6,100 military, civilian and contractor jobs in the region. But a proposal to slash the Pentagon's budget for military contractors over the...

WASHINGTON -- Officials briefed on the decision say Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to eliminate a major military command in Norfolk, Va., and try to cut the Pentagon's use of outside contractors by 10 percent next year. The plan was to be announced at a Pentagon press conference on Monday. It is part of a broader effort to trim $100 billion from the military's mammoth budget in the next five years, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan begin to wind down and Congress turns its attention more to domestic priorities.

President Barack Obama is signing legislation to fund his troop surge in Afghanistan. Before Congress passed it on Tuesday, the bill was stripped of money for domestic stimulus programs. Obama was signing it in a low-ley Oval Office session Thursday.

NEWPORT NEWS — — Foreign ownership of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s nuclear shipbuilding business "would present significant challenges" for the U.S. Navy, a spokesman said Monday. Northrop, whose Newport News shipyard is the sole manufacturer and refueler of the Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of two to build nuclear-powered Navy submarines, said last week it is seeking strategic alternatives for its shipbuilding enterprise, which includes selling or spinning off the unit.

(CNSNews.com) – Democrats in the both the House and Senate are trying to amend the 2011 war funding bill to allow gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to serve in the military, a move opposed by the heads of all four branches of the armed services. The amendments are being sold as a compromise between homosexual activists, their congressional allies, and defenders of the military who support the current ban on homosexual service.  The proposal would not allow gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to serve immediately but would delay their entry until the Defense Department completes its policy review in December. Originally, that review...

America has a long tradition of supporting those on the side of democracy By, Elizabeth Emken Republican Candidate for Congress, California’s 11th District Since 1948, the State of Israel has stood tall as a bulwark for democracy in the Middle East and has been one of America’s staunchest allies. No matter which party occupied the White House, United States foreign policy reflected the importance of our strong relationship with Israel and our understanding that a secure Israel is vital to our own national security interests. The U. S. has always stood strong in support of Israel in its sovereign right...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has signaled that the long-awaited and seriously over-budget Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) may be the next high-profile project scrapped — the latest in a series of moves meant to streamline the Pentagon’s budget and refocus the military on future challenges. The EFV, an amphibious armored troop transport, was designed to replace the tired AAV-7A1, a 1970s-era vehicle that has had its service life extended several times as the Marine Corps has sought a replacement. Both vehicles occupy a specific niche that few vehicles in the world can (or try) to match. They are purpose-designed to transport...

An average sergeant in the Army with four years of service and one dependent would receive $52,589 in annual compensation, according to the paper. This figure includes basic pay, housing and subsistence allowances, as well as tax benefits. Meanwhile, a U.S. Postal letter carrier, with no supervisory or hazardous duty, makes approximately $80,000 a year when all benefits are factored in.

Marines have high hopes for new EFVs, even if they've been met with criticismThe United States Marine Corps hopes to usher in a new era of multi-million dollar vehicles with its recent unveiling of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) earlier in the week. Military officials expect the faster, more dynamic EFV will replace the USMC's older amphibious assault vehicles. The EFV can travel more than 40 mph on land and 23 to 29 mph while in the water. It also has a 30mm day/night weapons system and better design to pinpoint IEDs and RPGs, which is "vitally important," according to...

In his first speech to the Navy League, Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out a grim portrait of a smaller fleet, one with fewer aircraft carriers, few or no new submarines and a sharply curtailed expeditionary capability for the Marines. Gates told a somber audience today that he did “not foresee any significant top-line increases in the shipbuilding budget beyond current assumptions. At the end of the day, we have to ask whether the nation can really afford a Navy that relies on $3 to $6 billion destroyers, $7 billion submarines, and $11 billion carriers.” On top of that, as...

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2010 – The stakes in Afghanistan are “too high for failure,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress today as he urged quick passage of funding legislation that supports operations there. Video Navy Adm. Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates testified before the House Appropriations Committee in support of the $549 billion fiscal 2011 base budget proposal and funding requests for overseas contingency operations during 2011 and the rest of fiscal 2010. The latter two requests, for $159 billion and $33 billion, respectively, primarily fund operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. With almost...

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...

European defence giant EADS has dropped out of a nine-year, two-horse $40bn (£27bn) race to provide the US Air Force with a fleet of air tankers after accusing the American government of skewing the competition in rival Boeing's favour. EADS staff stand near a life-size scale display of the interior of the Airbus A400M military transport plane EADS and US partner Northrop-Grumman last night took the dramatic decision not to make a bid for the 179 plane contract after studying the latest terms drawn up by the US Department of Defence (DoD). The pairing, which actually won the contract in...

Northrop Grumman has decided not to bid in the Air Force refueling tanker contract, leaving Boeing's Everett-built 767 as the sole airplane competing for the $40 billion program. A person familiar with the details said Northrop will announce its decision after the market closes today...

Pentagon Reports Document Continuing Lockheed-Martin Failures Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the CDI Straus Military Reform Project has obtained almost two years of monthly reports from the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) on Lockheed Martin’s production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The documents do not paint a pretty picture, explains Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler. The Defense Contract Management Agency’s (DCMA) most recent reports cover the months July through November 2009. The full reports are available below. Their major points, as summarized by Winslow Wheeler, are as follows: The F-35 assembly line at Forth Worth,...

The stakes could not be higher. When the Navy later this year picks a winner to build its littoral combat ship, no matter which contractor is selected, the decision will be seen as a turning point for the troubled program. For the Navy, it will be a chance to prove it can acquire relatively affordable ships. When LCS was first conceived earlier this decade, it was supposed to cost $220 million, but the price tag eventually more than doubled. Now, with a new acquisition strategy, Navy officials are hopeful that they can carry the program through, and procure 66 ships...

The solid-state laser system from Northrop Grumman, that produced the most powerful beam ever from a continuous wave electric laser last year, is joining other pioneering speed-of-light weapons demonstrators for field tests at the Army's High Energy Laser System Test Facility (HELSTF), N.M. In cooperation with the U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, which operates the test range at White Sands Missile Range in southeastern New Mexico, BAE Systems has contracted with Northrop Grumman to relocate the Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) Phase 3 system from the company's laser factory in Redondo Beach, Calif.,...

UPDATE 1-Raytheon says bidding for India tank upgrade * Partnering Larsen & Toubro for 1,000 tank contract Stocks * Contract value seen at more than $100 mln (Adds detail) NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Raytheon Co (RTN.N), the world's biggest missile maker, said on Friday it and partner Larsen & Toubro (LART.BO) have bid for the contract to upgrade 1,000 T-72 battle tanks in India. Defence ministry officials said India was looking to spend at least $100 million in upgrading the tanks, which India bought from Russia three decades ago. "The upgrade will increase the lethality of the T-72...

February 12, 2010 Blackwater 'Defrauded US By Billing For Prostitute In Kabul' Tim Reid The controversial American security firm Blackwater is facing new allegations of gross misconduct after two former employees said the firm repeatedly defrauded the US Government, including billing it for the use of a Filipina prostitute in Afghanistan. In a federal lawsuit Melan Davis, one of the former employees, accused the security firm of employing the prostitute in Kabul, and billing the Government for her aircraft tickets and monthly salary under the “morale welfare recreation” expenses category. The lawsuit also accuses the firm, which has since been...

With nearly $12.5 billion in the proposed U.S. Navy and Army rotorcraft budget for Fiscal 2011, it would seem the services are flush with funding. And yet there is an eerie theme common to the programs receiving dollars: None of them is new. The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), released Feb. 1 in conjunction with the Fiscal 2011 budget request, puts availability of rotary-wing assets at the top of its list to ensure success in counterinsurgency, stability and counterterrorism operations. The UH-60M Black Hawk is the big winner for the Army, with $1.25 billion requested to sustain production of 74 aircraft....

This year’s report reflects the naval capabilities projected to meet the challenges the nation faces over the next three decades of the 21st century. The structure requirements articulated in this report are based upon the 313-ship force originally set forth in the FY 2005 Naval Force Structure Assessment that was reported to Congress and referred to by the Chief of Naval Operations in his FY 2009 budget testimony, as amended by decisions made by the Secretary of Defense in the FY 2010 President’s Budget as well as decisions made during the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). As such, the battle...

Defense: The administration decision to scrap a proven aircraft in favor of a supposedly cheaper, more flexible replacement is proving to be an expensive mistake. We may wind up defenseless and broke. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that was supposed to be America's frontline fighter for the foreseeable future is in big trouble. Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the general in charge of the program this week amid concerns of spiraling costs and program delays. Gates also announced he is withholding $614 million in fees from the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. Daniel J. Crowley, one of Lockheed Martin's project managers,...

On Monday we learned the Obama administration awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to Checchi & Company, owned by Vincent V. Checchi a prominent Democratic campaign contributor. The Contract was awarded without entertaining competitive bids. Despite President Obama's long history of criticizing the Bush administration for "sweetheart deals" with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington- based firm owned...

The U.S. has canceled a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan awarded to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor who did not face competitive bids. The cancellation comes after Fox News first reported on the details of the contract last week, prompting lawmakers to make inquiries into the deal. State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said that USAID terminated the award and is now working on an appropriate resolution. "If you want to say this violates the basis on which this administration came into office and campaigned, fair enough," Crowley told Fox News. The contract had been...

The Obama administration has given a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a prominent Democrat campaign contributor without considering any competitive bids!

First lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday the president's 2011 budget will include a record $8.8 billion to support military families. The largest sum, $1.9 billion, would be spent on counseling and other support services. An additional $1.3 billion would go for military child care.

By James Rosen - FOXNews.com The Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a prominent Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned. Despite President Obama’s long history of criticizing the Bush administration for “sweetheart deals” with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

You could say that the three biggest challenges facing the U.S. Navy's shipbuilding program are money, money, and money. The service has a clear vision of how to construct a networked, flexible fleet suitable for use across the spectrum of conflict. But it only gets $13-14 billion per year to build the warships that will populate that fleet. That isn't much for a country that relies on its Navy every day to sustain nuclear deterrence, assure free transit of sea lanes, and carry the global war on terror to the enemy. However, with the government borrowing $4 billion per day...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently indicated the U.S. Air Force is likely going to receive funding set aside for a new long-range bomber, according to media reports. In April, Gates cut several high-profile projects, which led to Air Force officials being disappointed that funding for the bomber could have vanished. However, the bomber program is expected to receive at least $1 billion, with the number expected to significantly increase in the years to come. "We are probably going to proceed with a long-range strike initiative coming out of the Quadrennial Defense Review and various other reviews going on," Gates...

HONOLULU (AP) -- President Barack Obama has rejected his first piece of legislation from Congress, a stopgap spending bill that never had to take effect. The White House on Wednesday said Obama exercised his right to send back to the Capitol a temporary appropriations bill that lawmakers passed in case a winter storm about two weeks ago would have prevented them from approving a final measure to fund the Pentagon next year. The Dec. 19 blizzard didn't keep them away from the Capitol and they approved the $626 billion defense spending bill before the previous budget expired. The White House...

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - The U.S. Air Force is aiming to spend up to $7 million annually through 2015 to spruce up roads where it transports personnel and equipment to Montana missile sites. Cascade County Road Supervisor Dave Sutton said the typical missile road maintenance programs only include applying new gravel every few years to roads leading to Malmstrom Air Force Base missile sites, the Great Falls Tribune reported.

Even as the U.S. military scrambles to support a troop surge in Afghanistan, it is donating passenger vehicles, generators and other equipment worth tens of millions of dollars to the Iraqi government. Under new authority granted by the Pentagon, U.S. commanders in Iraq may now donate to the Iraqis up to $30 million worth of equipment from each facility they leave, up from the $2 million cap established when the guidelines were first set in 2005. The new cap applies at scores of posts that the U.S. military is expected to leave in coming months as it scales back its...

Yet another example of the folly of assigning liberals to guard duty. Joining Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show Thursday to vent about that pesky wabbit Joe Lieberman was Fire Dog Lake blogger Jane Hamsher. Democrats wield considerable leverage over Lieberman, Hamsher opined, to keep him from joining a GOP filibuster of ObamaCare or punish him if he does -- MADDOW: ... I think you’re right to point out that other senators sort of gently expressing their disapproval of his proverbial toplessness at this point is a bigger deal than it would be in the real world, that their words...

Photo credit Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2009 - President Barack Obama today signed the fiscal 2010 National Defense Authorization Act during a ceremony at the White House. Obama hailed the act, which contains $680.2 billion in military budget authority, as transformational legislation that targets wasteful defense spending. The president was accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, congressional leaders and other senior officials, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "There's still more waste we need to cut; there's still more fights that...

The "hate crimes" bill approved recently by Congress could be a problem for broadcasters -- most importantly, Christian broadcasters -- now that it has been signed into law. President Barack Obama has signed into law a measure that adds to the list of federal hate crimes attacks on people based on their sexual orientation. Congress approved the legislation last week as part of the $680-billion FY 2010 Defense Authorization bill. Appended to the hate crimes amendment was a statement ensuring that a religious leader or any other person cannot be prosecuted on the bases if his or her speech, beliefs,...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama would approve the Defense Department's $680 billion budget for fiscal 2010, which includes funding to increase military personnel and support the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill also includes the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also known as the Matthew Shepard bill, a Wyoming teen murdered in 1998 because he was a homosexual. The act provides additional support for local law enforcement and prosecutors to try violent crimes that are motivated by the victim's religion, color, gender, or sexual orientation. Obama will sign the 2010 National...

When software firm MobilVox wanted to break into the lucrative world of defense contracting, it pursued an unmistakable strategy: It expanded operations from its Northern Virginia base in Rep. James P. Moran's congressional district to the southwestern Pennsylvania district of Rep. John P. Murtha. Working with two of the most powerful members of a House subcommittee that controls Pentagon spending, the company also hired lobbying firms that employed former top aides of both the Democratic lawmakers and Mr. Murtha's brother. Company executives and their lobbyists donated thousands of dollars to the two congressmen. Soon, money flowed the other way. Between...

Obama administration officials said Wednesday there is no chance that ACORN will get a Homeland Security grant it was awarded last month because of a provision in a bill signed into law last week prohibiting any federal funding to the controversial group. Several members of Congress said they were pleased that ACORN will not get the money, which would have come from funding typically earmarked for fire departments across the country, but they questioned why it had been awarded to ACORN in the first place. At least one also still wants official assurance of a permanent withdrawal of the $997,402...