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F-35 JSF vs F-22 Raptor: Committee and White House headed for a collision; The politics of military spending
Topic Started: Jun 29 2009, 07:17 PM (97 Views)
BUSTER
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Defence.Profesionals Daily


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The Senate Armed Services Committee’s controversial proposal for the 2010 defence authorization bill

06:41 GMT, June 29, 2009 defpro.com | The US seems to be solidly divided on a decision as to whether its Air Force needs additional F-22 Raptors or, as proposed, should accelerate the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme. Intensive discussions at several forums and conferences ended in early April when Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed phasing out production of the Raptor by fiscal year 2011. Gates further proposed to limit F-22 production to 187 planes and to accelerate testing of the F-35, which is designed to become the new airborne workhorse.

However, the Raptor story did not end with Gates’ decision, as many assumed. Discussions continued and lawmakers from states such as Georgia and Connecticut, which have major F-22 production facilities, have begun to fight for continuing F-22 production. Additional support was found among those lawmakers who believe that additional F-22 aircraft are needed for the Air Force and this group achieved much last week when the House Armed Services Committee voted to include $369 million in extra funding for the advanced procurement of 12 F-22A fighter jets.

The committee proposal was seen as a direct attack on Gates and Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget proposal and immediately came under scrutiny by the White House. Both Gates and President Obama decided not to include any funding for the F-22 in the 2010 budget and Obama threatened to veto such expenditures proposed by the committee. The Office of Management and Budget said the funding for more F-22 fighters runs counter to the "collective judgment" of the military's top leaders and that the president will veto bills that do not meet his standards.

However, despite the veto the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on Thursday also chose to oppose Secretary Gates and President Obama when they voted to authorize $1.75 billion for seven more F-22 Raptor aircraft. Beyond that, the committee requested that the Pentagon explore creating an export version of the F-22 that could be sold to Japan and other allies.
The Senate committee also joined the House in voting to develop an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, adding $438.9 million for the F-136 program, which is another program the White House seeks to eliminate.

The committee’s mark up also included a very interesting point: The committee proposed cutting $146 million on JSF research and development to eliminate excess management reserves in the program. This can be seen as an attempt to raid JSF funds for the purchase of more F-22.

Both the Senate and House bills now have to go through the appropriations committees.


Further issues of the SASC 2010 defense bill:

The SASC 2010 defense authorization bill also provides $6.7 billion for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicle Fund. This includes an increase of $1.2 billion over the President’s budget request for the MRAP All-Terrain Vehicles (M-ATV), which will be deployed to Afghanistan.

The Future Combat System Manned Ground Vehicle (MGV) reallocates $323.6 million of excess termination liability funds to other Army RDTE efforts in support of a new ground combat vehicle program, including vehicle modernization and survivability research, advanced tank armament systems, medium and heavy tactical vehicle development and combat vehicle manufacturing technology.
The Future Combat System Non-Line of Sight-Cannon (NLOS-C) program reallocates $58.2 million of excess termination liability to the Paladin Integration Management (PIM) program to accelerate the upgrade and modernization of the M109A6 Paladin 155mm self-propelled howitzer that will increase the Paladin’s performance and reliability, reduce life cycle costs, and address electronic obsolescence issues to meet the Army’s needs through 2050.

The UH-60 Blackhawk program adds $20.4 million for 12 additional UH-60 Blackhawk A to L model conversions to accelerate modernization. This is in addition to the 38 A to L conversions provided for in the budget request.

The Joint Future Theater Lift adds $53 million to sustain the tilt-rotor industrial base through risk reduction activities while the Department of Defense determines how best to exploit technology that could enable fundamentally new ground force operational concepts, a baseline for future vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, and major benefits to commercial aviation.

The A160 Hummingbird UAVs program adds $86 million to procure five additional aircraft and supports the sustained deployment of the A160 to Afghanistan, which is equipped with appropriate sensor systems.
The F/A-18E/F adds $560 million to buy 18 F/A-18E/F aircraft in fiscal year 2010 as originally planned, rather than nine aircraft as requested.

The C-130 avionics modernization program (AMP) cuts $209.5 million for the AMP request due to delays in beginning the production program.

The CSAR-X cuts $90 million due to the availability of prior year funds.
The MP-RTIP adds $92 million to mature MP-RTIP technology for deployment on a large aircraft, in addition to the current plan for fielding the technology on the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Lastly, the Litening targeting pod upgrades add $24 million for upgrading existing Air Force Litening targeting pods.
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bitonti
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99% pure draft
who are they flying these f22 against? pakistani jihadists in a dirt pile? there hasn't been an air to air dogfight for like 25 years.
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Plumberkhan
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The USAF needs more mud movers and not large numbers of air superiority fighters as in the past...as the nature of the conflicts being fought at the moment are low intensity and the opposition does not even have an Air Force. I think the USAF already has some 150 F-22s online. Quite a large number considering that they're still flying F-15s and F-16s actively.


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