WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- U.S. military air superiority is at risk as U.S. Air Force combat planes age, Congress was told this week.
"I'm concerned ... that our dominance in combat air power is a risk," Rep. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces of the U.S. House of Representatives told a joint hearing with the subcommittee on air and land forces on Department of Defense aviation programs.
"Nations such as China and India are rapidly fielding modern fighter aircraft, multi-level air defense systems, and aerial surveillance systems. Robust economic growth is fueling this military modernization and it is likely to continue for years to come," Bartlett said.
"We are at a critical juncture in our nation's history," Bartlett said. "The world around us is changing rapidly. We must be judicious in our choices as we face what seem to be unlimited requirements with a very limited budget."
Russia has also announced a massive conventional rearmament program financed by its soaring oil and gas export revenues. The next generation of U.S. combat aircraft led by the F-22 and the F-35 is so expensive that the U.S. Air Force will not be able to afford large numbers of them comparable to its current deployments of such aircraft as the F-15 and the F-16.
