Link to original: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/senators-urge-obama-to-buy-f-22s-2009-01-16.html
Senators are pressing President-elect Obama to allow the Air Force to continue buying F-22 Raptor fighter jets.
Deciding whether to buy more F-22s after the final aircraft on order is delivered at the end of 2011 is one of the first strategic and business decisions Obama’s Pentagon leaders will have to make after Inauguration.
A group of 44 senators — 25 Democrats and 19 Republicans — sent Obama a letter with the request. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), a defense authorizer who represents a state where Lockheed Martin builds the fighter plane, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a defense appropriator whose state is home to Boeing’s operations, headlined the letter. Boeing is a subcontractor for the F-22.
“Continued F-22 production is critical to both the national security and economic interests of our country,” Murray said in a statement. “At a time when we are looking to create jobs and stimulate the economy, eliminating the $12 billion in economic activity and thousands of American jobs tied to F-22 production simply doesn’t make sense.”
The 2009 defense authorization bill requires Obama to decide by March 1 whether to continue the production of the F-22.
That production is slated to end after 2011, when Lockheed Martin is scheduled to deliver the last of 183 aircraft. The Air Force told Congress earlier this year that it would need up to 250 F-22s to maintain air superiority. But in its 2009 budget request the Pentagon did not include money to keep producing the F-22, or to shut down the production line at Lockheed’s plant.
The Pentagon and Congress have been at odds over how many more F-22s the Air Force should buy. Senior lawmakers from both parties want the Pentagon to buy more F-22s, but the Pentagon is resisting.
The latest letter sent to Obama on Friday was signed by a broad group that included Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), John Thune (R-S.D.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
In the House, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) is also spearheading a letter to Obama. So far, 170 lawmakers signed on and the letter is still circulating for more signatures.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has opposed buying more F-22s and favors buying the multinational, multiservice Joint Strike Fighter, an aircraft in development that is expected to be cheaper than the F-22.
But when he released the Pentagon’s request for an emergency supplemental spending measure to cover the remainder of the year, four F-22s were included.
Bill Lynn, the designee to become the deputy secretary of Defense, said at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that part of an early strategic review includes the Pentagon deciding on the right mix of F-22s and the Joint Strike Fighter.
“The F-22 Raptor is the nation’s most capable fighter and the world’s only operational fifth-generation fighter aircraft in full-rate production,” the senators said in their letter to Obama. “The F-22 is a model production line and, since full-rate production began, the unit flyaway cost has decreased 35 percent.”
The lawmakers stressed that more than 25,000 people work for more than 1,000 suppliers in 44 states and estimated that another 70,000 people indirectly owe their jobs to this program.
“As we face one of the most trying economic times in recent history it is critical to preserve existing high-paying, specialized jobs that are critical to our nation’s defense,” they said.
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