Brookings Institution senior fellow Michael O'Hanlon has jumped on the bandwagon fired up by the US deficit reduction panel, which last month recommended eliminating the Lockheed Martin F-35 and BellBoeing V-22.
O'Hanlon today published a policy paper titled "Defense Budgets and American Power", which contains a wide range of cost-reduction ideas that largely mirror the deficit panel's work. Here are excerpts from O'Hanlon's paper:
O'Hanlon today published a policy paper titled "Defense Budgets and American Power", which contains a wide range of cost-reduction ideas that largely mirror the deficit panel's work. Here are excerpts from O'Hanlon's paper:
- Partial or even complete cancellation of the joint strike fighter or F-35. The type of stealth found in the F-35, and some short-takeoff capability, would be welcome, but the United States has aircraft ranging from F-22 fighters to drones that can also provide these capabilities to some extent. Depending on which approach was taken, the intended buys of F-35 planes would be replaced with F-16 and F-18 aircraft, at an annual savings of $1 billion to $4 billion.
- Replacement of the Marine Corps V-22 tiltrotor Osprey program with existing-generation helicopters at annual savings of about $1 billion
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