Out: More Raptors, VH-71, CSAR-X

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 04.06.09 1500 EDT (DEVELOPING STORY): Saying he would have made the same budget cuts regardless of the state of the economy, on Monday Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended the Pentagon cut all further funding for production of the F-22A Raptor, and halting development of the controversial VH-71 presidential helicopter replacement.

The Associated Press reports Gates termed the $534 billion budget a "fundamental overhaul" in how the Pentagon goes about procuring new weapons systems, as well as a shift in strategy from conventional warfare to insurgent conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan.

"My decisions have been almost exclusively influenced by factors other than simply finding a way to balance the books or fit under the top line, as is normally the case with most budget exercises," Gates said in a prepared release. "Instead, these recommendations are the product of a holistic assessment of capabilities, requirements, risks and needs for the purpose of shifting this department in a different strategic direction."

The proposal is not the final say on what the Pentagon's ultimate budget will be, or what programs will be saved; that will come following Congressional debate. It does show, however, that Gates wants out of several controversial -- and expensive -- programs.

Under Gates' proposed budget, production of the Lockheed Martin F-22A would be capped at 187 -- four more than called for under the current USAF contract. Air Force leaders had wanted as many as 750 of the expensive fighters when the contract was first awarded in 1994, but later pared down its request to 381 planes. Though highly capable in the arena of modern aerial dogfighting, each F-22 also costs $140 million... and is of dubious value in the realm of modern warfare.

Arguably even less-loved by Gates at the Pentagon is the VH-71 presidential helicopter replacement program... an $11.2 billion boondoggle that has seen original cost estimates more than doubled. At $400 million apiece, each new VH-71 helicopter -- built by a consortium made up of Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland -- costs more than the last Air Force One did in the late 1980s.

Now in testing, the advanced helicopters were slated to replace the current aging fleet of Sikorsky VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters, and offer command and control capabilities similar to those available to the President on AF1. Gates counters the current helicopters, though long-in-tooth, are still sufficient for the purpose of ferrying the President from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base, and Camp David.

Another helicopter program on the chopping block is the Combat Search-and-Rescue helicopter, or CSAR-X. In what the Air Force had originally hoped would showcase the branch's procurement prowess, CSAR-X has instead turned into something more resembling "The Three Stooges Attempt To Buy A Helicopter."

As ANN reported, the Air Force named Boeing's HH-47 -- a variant of the erstwhile Chinook -- as the winner of CSAR-X in November 2006. That determination was promptly protested by the losing bidders Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin... and after some hemming and hawing, the Air Force agreed to put CSAR-X up for rebid in March 2007, with a planned ruling by the fall.

However, the USAF was forced to change its Request-For-Proposal once again last November, after those companies took their protests to the Government Accountability Office. As of today, the contract is still under RFP status.

"It is important to remember that every defense dollar spent to over-ensure against a remote or diminishing risk -- or in effect to run up the score in a capability where the United States is already dominant -- is a dollar not available to take care of our people, reset the force, win the wars we are in and improve capabilities in areas where we are underinvested and potentially vulnerable," Gates wrote Monday.

FMI: www.defenselink.mil