18.02.2008, 20:17
Zitat:Our friend and sometimes DT poster Bob Cox of Fort Worth Star-Telegram fame had this piece on Saturday:
General reprimanded for disagreeing on F-22
A senior Air Force general picked a bad time to publicly disagree with Defense Secretary Robert Gates over his opposition to buying more F-22 Raptors.
After weeks of debate over the future of Lockheed Martin's high-priced stealth fighter jet, Gates sent Air Force leaders a message to tone down the rhetoric by having a top general reprimanded for suggesting that the service would find a way to circumvent Pentagon and White House objections.
Experts don't expect Air Force officials to change their minds about the need to buy more F-22s after the disciplining of Gen. Bruce Carlson. But a Washington insider said Friday that service leaders will turn down the volume.
"The secretary of the Air Force has sent a message to all of his four stars [generals] saying they need to be more circumspect in their language," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, who has close ties to the Air Force and is a consultant to Lockheed.
Leaders of the Air Force and the Pentagon have been engaged for weeks in an unusually public and testy disagreement about the future of the F-22 program.
The latest developments were spurred by Carlson's comments published this week in the trade journal Aviation Week.
The general, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said the Air Force was "committed to funding 380" F-22s regardless of the Bush administration's budget policies. "We're building a program right now to do that. It's going to be incredibly difficult ... but we've done this before."
Carlson's comments came as Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England was testifying before congressional committees.
In an exchange during a Senate Budget Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, asked whether the Pentagon would buy F-22s to replace aging F-15s, some of which have been grounded because of structural defects.
"I do not believe the F-22 will be the replacement for the F-15," England said. "I would expect instead to try and accelerate the [F-35] joint strike fighter," which he called a capable and far less costly replacement.
The Air Force has long insisted that it needs at least 381 F-22s, which cost about $175 million each, according to budget documents. Bush's 2009 defense budget provides funds to buy 20 F-22s, which would bring the total force to 183 planes.
Kann Nightwatch nur zustimmen die USA werden keinen Ausländischen Fighter kaufen wenigstens keinen der nicht in ihrem Land produziert wird.
Desweiteren weiß ich nicht was diese ganze neuer Fighter Geschichte bei dir soll hoj, ich kann einfach keinen Sinn darin erkennen warum an ein neuen Fighter Design braucht wenn man schon einen überragenden mit der F22 hat. Man kauft da besser gleich 381 Exemplare der F22 Wo la sie wird schon viel billiger geworden und kauft man 780 davon dann ist sie vieleicht sogar billiger als der EVA 2000.
Ich verstehe da nicht warum ein neuer Fighter irgendeinen Vorteil bringen soll und warum der billiger sein soll wenn er auch nur in geringen Zahlen beschafft wird. Es ist ja nicht so dass die F22 so Teuer ist weil sie so modern ist sondern einfach nur weil sie in so geringen Zahlen produziert wird.