Decision By Administration to Cut Defense Programs
On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced plans to cut various defense programs, including the F-22 Raptor and the C-17.
I am extremely disappointed in this decision by the Obama administration. America has maintained air dominance in every conflict since the Korean War, and now this administration is giving that advantage up and is willing to sacrifice the lives of American military men and women for the sake of domestic programs favored by President Obama.
When this administration is spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on everything from bailing out a failing auto industry to policymakers' pet projects at the expense of protecting our military men and women, its priorities are apparent. This decision will likely have long-term repercussions, as we don't know who our next enemy will be. (emphasis mine)
Because it is unwise to invest billions of dollars in systems that are not adequately proven or tested, or that cannot evade sophisticated air threats, Air Force leadership recommended procuring 60 additional F-22s. I am disappointed that the Obama administration did not accept its recommendations.
Shutting off production of the C-17 is also imprudent. At present, the C-17 is being utilized at 150 percent of capacity.
Simply put, this decision is unwise. But this fight is not finished. I will work to overturn the secretary's recommendation to continue production of the F-22 to meet the Air Force's recommendations and ensure America's air dominance.
http://chambliss.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsCenter.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=7d562f47-802a-23ad-420e-3b57b711c522&CFID=10359225&CFTOKEN=79248469
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You know.........since I am on a political rant this evening.. I will say this!
When I got this from a newsletter that was sent to me.. I thought...
.Is this supposed to be a surprise ? ??? It's how the Democrats pay for their social programs! They love to cut Defense. Its their nature. We keep hearing how BO would be Jimmy Carter II .......Well..here's the proof.
Seems to me that defense budgets would not be a problem if we were not funding social security for illegal aliens, at will abortions for irresponsible teens, and giving welfare to people who have no stake in the system. >:(
The one fundamental role of government is to protect it's citizens. Everything else is secondary. This is what liberals CANNOT OR WILL NOT understand. I am getting fed up with the attitude that no one in the rest of the world could possibly want to do us harm. Gee I kinda thought 9-11 would have changed that thinking. (duh...stupid me)
How quickly we forget, after all the lip service paid to the notion that "We will NEVER forget".
Since you and I seem to be the only ones vocal tonight, (had some extra time while waiting for videos to upload) I will add this before I head to bed.
Millions have not forgot! This might be extreme coming from me but this is what I think.
They have 4 years to slowly tear down this country to the point of no return. They can't pay for defense but paid out 200 million in bonus money to Fanni & Freddy employees. They should be in jail , not getting a bonus. BIGGEST THEFT IN HISTORY IN 100 DAYS and nobody is stopping them. That alone is mind boggling.
Just my opinion but ..give up the nuke's and get nuked..... Give up your gun's and get gunned.
But give up the Fight? NEVER! Forget? NEVER!
Cutting the Military Defense Agency and desires to cut MDA is really stupid....just goes to show what kind of leaders we have. If you haven't, take a trip to the MDA website... http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/html/mdalink.htmland.... look around and see how the European Star Wars Station doesn't directly threaten Russian missile launch capabilities.
Oh by the way....have you heard about the Chinese carrier killer missile...Mach 10? Do you think Obama will support countermeasures? ??? Do you think the Chinese will not export them to, say....Iran? ???
Think about it!
And with that, I'm going to bed.
Just dandy~~~~~~~~What a great time to have a loser President! >:(
Now I'm going to bed! I have a pile of massages to do tomorrow.
(http://www.cascity.com/howard/animations/sleep.gif)
One of the first actions Ronald Reagan accomplished when he took office was to shore up the much deteriorated military forces that Jimmy Carter had neglected.
Some units were in such run down states of readiness, one could not even call them an armed force.
He infused millions of dollars into the military and in particular in the area of operation and maintenance for daily operations and new equipment.
He did not care for the civilians working for the military, though.
He also resurrected the B-1 bomber which Carter had killed.
He favored the reduction of government programs and oversaw the largest tax cuts in American history.
He was proAmerican and never apologized to anyone on behalf of his country. His reelection in 1984 was a landslide.
The next Republican president will have his work cut out for him.
I thought those two planes were at the end of their contract production period and were going to be replaced by new, more modern planes with technology for today. Am I misinformed?
Have you been listening to Joe Biden, again. ;D
C-17B production was supposed to have started in 2010. This administration is stopping that effort.
339 F-22s were supposed to have been built but this administration is stopping at 187.
I have heard some talk that they will increase F-35 production but that plane is not as capable as the F-22, which is supposed to be the most technologically advanced fighter in the world.
Nah, can't blame Joe. I thought I read it somewhere. Thanks
Well, you were technically correct.
The way Congress buys airplanes is on an annual contract.
For instance, of the 339 F-22 planes originally wanted, only a small number is contracted for each fiscal year. Congress provides DoD with funding for, say, 20 planes in fiscal year 2004. Then x number in fiscal year 2005, x number in fiscal year 2006, etc.
The current F-22 contract will be running out and there will be no additional contracts.
Same for the C-17.
May I be smug and self important now? ;D
Diane, it works for me! :D
And being technically correct is the highest level of correctness :police: :laugh:.
David
well, technically, the F22 IS the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world. Why wouldn't we want more???
Quote from: Varmit on April 14, 2009, 07:10:56 PM
well, technically, the F22 IS the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world. Why wouldn't we want more???
Varmit I agree we need some Raptors in our arsenal. The reasons we may not want more at this time are:
Overall cost is very big.
It is an air to air combat fighter and definitely among the most advanced technologically speaking, but none of our most current threats have an air to air capability. Our major threats are more "old school" capabilities. Iraq and Afghanistan and other backwater nations. There are better platforms for those our most current battles. I would rather see money put into drones, ground troops, special op's strike forces... to deal with Afghanistan. China and Russia will always be a threat and that is who the Raptor is designed to defend against. Still the Raptor is a very necessary part of our defense. Personally I still like A-10's and Special Forces for our current big threats.
David
No doubt the warthog is a bad mammerjammer, seen it in action, glad it is on our side, same for Special Forces, but I would rather have the f22's and not need'em, than need'em and not have'em. I think it was General Nathan Bedford Forrest who said that in order to win a war "you gid thar firstest with tha mostest".
I know nothing about planes.. so I can't add my 2 cents in ..
Well, darn, Teresa, I was counting on you to interpret all this talk for me. ??? ??? :angel:
There are jet fighter concepts numbered F23 through F34 but for any number of reasons the concept for that particular fighter never made it off the drawing board.
Several years ago and for whatever reason, the government decided to revert to numbering fighters and bombers starting all over again with number 1.
Under that backtrack, we have a B-2 bomber that is more advanced than the B-52 and an F-22 fighter that is more advanced than, say, the F104.
I have heard that the AF has retired the F-117 stealth fighter.
There was once a bevy of B-68 bombers deployed near Elk County.
One of those was at Rock, Kansas, which is about fifteen miles north of Winfield in Cowley County.
In 1978 there was a refueling accident there that killed one or two AF men and caused the town to be evacuated. Some AF men were medically retired as a result of that accident.
The husband of one of the employees in our finance office was one of those doing the refueling and his lungs were badly damaged. It turned out his protective suit had a hole in it. Something happened that caused a fueling coupler to become dislodged spewing the fuel throughout the silo.
The B-68 was the Atlas II ICBM. All ICBMs received Bomber number designations. The Minuteman was in the B-80 series.
The entire missile crew fled the scene to get away from the escaping toxic fuel vapors.
For about one hour until the AF Security Police arrived, the United States had an atomic bomb that was unguarded.
AND???
After the the toxic fuel had evaporated, our finance office and legal office set up a claims office in the post office to make payment to any Rock citizen who said they suffered injury from the accident.
There was very little, if any, money paid out. There was a lot of informal discussion that the people in Rock were very patriotic and would not submit a false claim even though they probably could have taken advantage of the situation. The Air Force was not asking many questions in that respect.
At the same time, the warhead and the missile were taken from the silo and an investigation began.
At first, at least verbally, there was much criticism of the able bodied AF men for leaving the site and an unguarded warhead. I don't believe anyone was punished but I could be wrong. I left shortly thereafter for Lowry AFB.
The silo wiring and electronics were literally destroyed by the toxic fuel. Plans were made to rebuild the silo but the US soon decided to retire the Atlas compounds and it never was never fully rebuilt.
A description of the accident is at
http://www.techbastard.com/missile/titan2/accident_533-7_1978.php
And, there was a somewhat similar accident at Little Rock, Arkansas, that same year.
Quote from: W. Gray on April 15, 2009, 02:32:53 PM
There are jet fighter concepts numbered F23 through F34 but for any number of reasons the concept for that particular fighter never made it off the drawing board.
Several years ago and for whatever reason, the government decided to revert to numbering fighters and bombers starting all over again with number 1.
Under that backtrack, we have a B-2 bomber that is more advanced than the B-52 and an F-22 fighter that is more advanced than, say, the F104.
I have heard that the AF has retired the F-117 stealth fighter.
Their is also, an F-35 fighter called the Lightening II which has only 4 production models at current(And 13 test and\or variant models). It utilizes many of the advances of the F-22 that Varmit and I discussed above. The F-35 is more along the lines of the A-10 and Harrier vertical "jump" jet. This is a joint strike fighter that is getting funding from England, US, and several other NATO nations. It concepts and capabilities fit well with our current needs in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran. The Chinese even wanted some, but "we" said yea right, I don't think so. By the end of the current contract we will have about 200 of the super advanced F-22 Raptor. I believe the new budget announced by Gates authorized 2,034 of the smaller F-35 Lightening. I think a good fit for our current needs.
David
p.s. I just went back and re read some of the previous posts. Sorry for duplicate responses and saying the same thing twice.
David