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.
on April 15, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply
Reading the GAO's recent report, the Pentagon will have procured 241 F-35s by 2012 with only 62% of flight testing completed. It will have procured more than 500 before all flight testing is completed. That was before the planned acceleration in procurement, too. That sounds like a risky acquisition strategy, doesn't it? And it's made worse by using the strategy in such a horribly expensive program. It's one thing to use a risky strategy in a program with a $500 million price tag. But in one which-even if all goes well- is expected to have a procurement price tag of almost $90 billion through 2015?
on April 16, 2009 10:38 AM | Reply
Because of this I would argue to push full rate production back at least until 2016 for the AF JSF.
make a few more testframes and learn and test the hell out of it.
That ways the first few JSF can maybe even skip early blocks.
At the same time built 40 Raptors next year(or as many as you can).
2011 to 2016 make 60 Raptors every year.
That way you get 487 Raptors.
Then you can diside if you want to make more until the early 2020ies and maybe start to work on a Strike Raptor.
on April 16, 2009 7:49 PM | Reply
The quick build up on the production side is what is supposed to push the cost down rapidly on the F-35- and frankly we need new planes. New legacy fighters are basically not worth it since new ones will cost as much as a F-35.
More Raptors- I love the Raptor, but even at 136 million bucks per plane-but losing one is painful. In addition to the Edwards crash a couple weeks ago, the 43rd FS essentially totaled one in a collision with a Canadian Hornet also a few days ago- no word on if it's repairable. We need a plane that can be built in large numbers and that where crashing one (or a few) is not tantamount to a national disaster.
on April 16, 2009 8:59 PM | Reply
Ok, talked to the 325th FW. It was a minor bump- barely at the level of a Class A. The F-22 is fine, minor damage only.