Hopes More Conservative Climate Will Turn Tide In His Favor

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is turning to an increasingly conservative majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in an effort to strip funding for the F136 engine out of the defense budget.

Gates has said repeatedly that he does not think the engine is necessary, and points to the program as a poster child for wasteful government spending. The engine is being developed jointly by Rolls Royce PLC and GE at a facility in Ohio.

While Gates has stripped funding for the alternate engine for the F-135 Joint Strike Fighter every year for the last several years, Congress continues to fund the program over the objections of the Defense Department and the President. With the House scheduled to begin debate on the defense budget this week, Gates said he hopes the members will finally see things his way. The Wall Street Journal reports that, should that not be the case, he will "look at all legal options to close down this program."

 
GE F136 Ohio Test Facility

GE responded to the secretary by e-mailing a statement in which company spokesperson Rick Kennedy said the debate on the floor of the house needs to be about "whether to hand a $100 billion monopoly (to) a single engine supplier."

There has been $3 billion already spend on the F136 alternate engine. Georgia Republican Lynn Westmorland called that spending "unnecessary," and said there are estimates that show it will cost an additional $3 billion to make the engine operational. GE spokesman Kennedy said that number was closer to $1.8 billion.

FMI: www.dod.gov