Obama's Threatens Veto over F-22 appropriations

A bill designed to help troops on the frontlines has created a new frontline—on Capitol Hill. In spite of a vocal pro-fighter-jet contingent in Congress, President Obama has long argued that funds used to manufacture F-22s would be better spent providing troops with more useful weapons and equipment.

On Wednesday, the president announced that he will veto a pending $680 billion defense spending bill for fiscal year 2010 if lawmakers allocate funding for more F-22 fighter jets than the Defense Department has requested. "The administration strongly objects to the provisions in the bill authorizing $1.75 billion for seven F-22s in FY 2010," the White House said. Obama's intervention in the hot-button debate over ending the F-22 program has heightened pressure on lawmakers to respect his military priorities.

The Secretary of Defense bill Gates wanted the F-22 cutbacks. The Lockheed Martin F-22, has requires more than 30 hours of maintenance for every hour in the skies, pushing its hourly cost of flying to more than $44,000, a far higher figure than for the warplane it replaces, confidential Pentagon test results show.

Structural problems forced retrofits to the frame. Computer flaws and defective software diagnostics forced the debugging of millions of lines of code. 

Stealth skin problems required re-gluing small surfaces that can take more than a day to dry according to the Pentagon’s independent Office of Operational Test and Evaluation.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga, wants the additional F22s to be procured because they are being built by Lockheed Martin in Georgia. 

source: The Daily Beast - The Morning Scoop - July 16, 2009

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2009/07/10/F_22_maintenance_marietta.html

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