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Lawmakers signal long battle over F-22 cuts

The battle lines are forming on the future of the F-22 Raptor.

Lawmakers, retired military commanders and think tank experts took their turns Thursday offering arguments for and against Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ recommendation to end F-22 production at 187 jets. Supporters of the F-22 program had hoped Gates would support buying an additional 60 F-22s, at a cost of about $140 million each, through 2012.

Retired Gen. Gregory “Speedy” Martin, a fighter pilot who led Air Force Materiel Command before leaving the service in 2005, said capping F-22 production at 187 planes had little to do with military requirements.

“There was no analysis to it. ... It was driven by the budget drill,” Martin told an audience during a forum sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

With 187 planes, there won’t be enough F-22s to assign one squadron to each of the 10 air expeditionary forces, Martin said. Even with 243 fighters, the number recently advocated by Air Force leaders, the Air Force would be shorting the number of Raptors needed for training, testing and keeping planes in reserve.

Rep. Joe Sestak, a retired Navy admiral who is now a Democratic lawmaker from Pennsylvania, supported Gates’ position.

Military might should be measured by capability, not the number of weapons, the lawmaker said.

Sestak praised the F-22 — “There’s not a better tactical aircraft that has ever been built” — but questioned the need for more than 187 fighters.

The only conceivable battle where large numbers of F-22s could be needed for air superiority would be in defense of Taiwan, Sestak said.

Instead of buying more Raptors, the Defense Department should spend the money upgrading the Raptor’s radars so the jets improve their capabilities as air-to-ground warplanes, he advocated.

Sestak added that he backed Gates’ recommendations to end C-17 Globemaster production at 205 aircraft and cancel the combat search-and-rescue helicopter program — CSAR-X — in order to look at joint options among the services.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who represents Georgia — where Lockheed Martin assembles the F-22 — disagreed.

“We don’t know who our enemy is going to be. ... We know we must be prepared,” Chambliss said.

The senator also said he opposed Gates’ recommendation to halt the Army’s Future Combat System vehicle program.

The senator suggested Gates is making his calculations on threats to meet the budget limits the Obama administration handed him.

Retired Navy pilot and Vice Chief of Navy Operations Adm. John Nathman said the F-22 cuts are partially the result of escalating military personnel costs.

While Congress is quick to add thousands more soldiers and Marines and increasing benefits, lawmakers don’t always add money for additional costs. That leaves it to the services and Defense Department to cut programs to pay for personnel expenses.