THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280442
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 59 lines
A pair of researchers commissioned by Congress warned lawmakers Thursday that the Pentagon wants more sophisticated new fighter jets than the national defense requires or the federal budget will bear.
The analysts, from the Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting Office, told a House subcommittee that the United States enjoys a huge advantage over any potential adversary in both numbers and quality of tactical aircraft. They suggested that the services consider buying more planes already in production - F-15s and F-16s for the Air Force and F/A-18 C/Ds for the Navy - as opposed to developing new aircraft.
But the nation's second-highest-ranking general said three tactical jets now at various stages of development will be affordable and are essential to maintaining U.S. control of the skies in any future conflict.
``We're not looking for a fair fight,'' said Air Force Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. ``We want the dominance to be completely and wholly on our side.''
Ralston and Paul J. Kaminski, undersecretary of defense for acquisitions, said plans for the F-22, a new dogfighter for the Air Force, and the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, a fighter-bomber for the Navy, are financially manageable.
They also defended a fledgling program to build a Joint Strike Fighter for the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps beginning around 2008. That jet is projected to be cheaper than either the F-22 or the Super Hornet, a claim that has been skeptically received by outside analysts and on Capitol Hill.
Cindy Williams, assistant director of the National Security Division of the Congressional Budget Office, said the $28 million- to $38 million-per-plane cost of the Joint Strike Fighter projected by the Pentagon might turn out to be closer to $63 million to $81 million per plane.
Kaminski said the military has neglected tactical aircraft improvements since the 1970s, when the Air Force brought the F-15 and F-16 into its inventory and the Navy began buying both the F-14 and the F/A-18.
In the 1980s, he said, the Pentagon put a disproportionate share of its budget into developing radar-evading stealth planes like the Air Force's B-2 bomber; in the '90s, the emphasis has been on improving airlift and sealift capabilities through the C-17 and a new generation of ``roll-on, roll-off'' transport ships.
Kaminski said the next decade should see a renewed emphasis on tactical jets, first the F-22 and the Super Hornet and later the Joint Strike Fighter.
But Republicans and Democrats at the hearing of a House National Security subcommittee questioned whether the funds needed for all three new planes can be found at a time when Congress also is trying to balance the budget and popular social programs like Medicare are facing cuts.
And while the emphasis in Thursday's hearing was on fighter jets, there are other equally pressing and expensive weapons programs in the works, including an updated attack helicopter for the Army, the Marines' V-22 Osprey troop transport, and a new generation aircraft carrier and missile-laden ``arsenal ship'' for the Navy.
``I'm scared to death'' at the prospect of trying to find money for all those programs, said Rep. Norman Sisisky, a Democrat who represents western Tidewater. The military may have to consider ``funding things in a different way'' by spreading acquisition costs over several years, he said. by CNB