Donley, Schwartz Say Resources Better Spent On JSF

It's been just over a week since US Defense Secretary Robert gates broke the news that F-22 Raptor production will end in 2011. Federal lawmakers have met with unions to discuss strategy, defense contractors have had their communications folks working late, and the letter-writing campaigns are up and running.

In short, we're getting a public demonstration of quick mobilization by the huge special interests President Obama says he wants to take on.

In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, US Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz expand on their premise that a move out of the cold war paradigm requires reallocating the nation's limited defense resources to meet current needs, including a shift to unmanned aerial systems. It reads, in part --

"We are often asked: How many F-22s does the Air Force need? The answer, of course, depends on what we are being asked to do. When the program began, late in the Cold War, it was estimated that 740 would be needed. As requirements for fighter inventories have declined and F-22 program costs have risen, the department imposed a funding cap and in December 2004 approved a program of 183 aircraft.

"This decision has increasingly become a zero-sum game. Buying more F-22s means doing less of something else. In addition to air superiority, the Air Force provides...intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, command and control, and related needs in the space and cyber domains. We are also repairing years of institutional neglect of our nuclear forces, rebuilding the acquisition workforce, and taking steps to improve Air Force capabilities for irregular warfare."

Donley and Schwartz go on to explain that the F-22 will work together with the multi-role F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, still under development, and that upgrades are planned to the F-22 over time. They admit, "Much rides on the F-35's success, and it is critical to keep the Joint Strike Fighter on schedule and on cost.

"Make no mistake: Air dominance remains an essential capability for joint warfighting. The F-22 is a vital tool in the military's arsenal and will remain in our inventory for decades to come. But the time has come to move on."

While the Pentagon and the US Air Force appear in sync about the need for a shift to fighting a new kind of war, the political battle to make it happen will feature good, old-fashioned political artillery. The fight has just begun.

FMI: Read The Full Op-Ed, www.af.mil