Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivered a speech defending his budget recommendations this morning at the Air University at Maxwell AFB. It was the same event where Gates nearly a year ago launched his slash-and-burn campaign against entrenched USAF attitudes, saying that negotiating budgetary priorities with service leaders was like "pulling teeth".
Since then, Gates has purged the USAF's top civilian and military
leaders. Their replacements have publicly backed Gates' recommendation
to halt F-22 production well short of the USAF's previous "medium-risk"
minimum of 243.
Not surprisingly, Gates' speech this year gave "credit where credit is due" for the USAF's sudden priority shift , with combat air patrol orbits of Predators and Reapers rising from 32 to 34 and a second schoolhouse standing up to prepare more UAV crews for action faster.
Gates again justified his recommendation to cancel the replacement for the USAF's aging combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters, saying the CSAR-X was not sufficiently "joint". And he defended his F-22 decision. With the F-35, the US military should have about 1,000 fifth-generation fighters by around 2020, when China is expected to obtain its first such aircraft, Gates says.
Not surprisingly, Gates' speech this year gave "credit where credit is due" for the USAF's sudden priority shift , with combat air patrol orbits of Predators and Reapers rising from 32 to 34 and a second schoolhouse standing up to prepare more UAV crews for action faster.
Gates again justified his recommendation to cancel the replacement for the USAF's aging combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters, saying the CSAR-X was not sufficiently "joint". And he defended his F-22 decision. With the F-35, the US military should have about 1,000 fifth-generation fighters by around 2020, when China is expected to obtain its first such aircraft, Gates says.
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