Air Force needs more F-22s to maintain air supremacy

ARLINGTON, Va., April 13 (UPI) -- When Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said April 6 that the U.S. Air Force advised him it wanted 187 Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptors, the reaction was shock.

That is because evidence indicates the U.S. Air Force was ready and willing to cap off production after buying a total of 243 F-22s, not 187. Do the simple math: Just 187 F-22s to replace 522 Boeing F-15 Eagles now in the total inventory is not enough in a crisis. A total buy of 243 F-22s is the minimum to fill out 10 F-22 squadrons for overseas missions and homeland defense.

What happened to the 243 number? Is the Obama Pentagon clamping down on the U.S. armed services?

Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed in December that he and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz were discussing 60 more, or 243 total, F-22s. On April 7 a reporter asked Gates, "As recently as a few weeks ago, the U.S. Air Force leadership was still publicly saying 260, 265. When did that change for them?" Gates' verbatim reply: "Well, you'll have to ask them. (Chuckles.)"

Recall how things work in normal times. The Pentagon budget is a $650 billion behemoth that relies on a formal process derived from the checks and balances in the Constitution. The armed services submit their budgets. The Office of the Secretary of Defense makes adjustments, then sends the budget to the president, who sends it to Congress. Key committees call generals, admirals and civilian officials to hearings where they swear under oath to give Congress their undiluted opinions.

Here is the dog that didn't bark in the night. Last summer Schwartz said in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee that he believed 381 F-22s were too many but 183 were too few. He promised to "delve deeply" into the analysis and return with a new number. Schwartz had numerous opportunities to call a halt to the F-22 at 183 aircraft. He did not.

Going forward, Congress appropriated partial money for the next 20 F-22s based on the longstanding requirement for the F-22 to replace F-15s. Outgoing Bush administration officials threw in procedural delays to prevent the Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney team from getting to work.

Then came the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4. Many applauded President Barack Obama's decision to retain former President George W. Bush's secretary of defense to ensure wartime continuity.

What few bargained for was that the first three months of the Obama presidency would give Gates a chance to craft what Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., has called a "novel" approach to the defense budget.

Gates kept Bush-Rumsfeld holdovers in crucial program-analysis posts and formed a small team to cut the budget in secret, a technique he mastered as CIA director. Next, in February Gates did what no previous secretary of defense had done. He directed top uniformed officers to sign non-disclosure agreements pledging not to talk about the budget process -- even to other senior officers in their services. Can you picture even experienced former Secretaries of Defense Caspar Weinberger or William Cohen making a demand like that?

Schwartz never had a chance to present his analysis for 243 F-22s to Congress as promised. To speak up given Gates' new restrictions might risk the tradition of civilian control begun by President George Washington. Air Combat Command, whose airmen fly and maintain F-22s and other fighters, is left to pick up the pieces after this shattering break in faith. Is this what change in Washington means?

--

(Rebecca Grant, Ph.D., is a senior fellow of the Lexington Institute, a non-profit public-policy research organization based in Arlington, Va.)

--

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)