Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday recommended a broad range of budgetary cuts to high-tech weapons programs, including production of the F-22 fighter jet, in a move that won mixed reviews from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Gates said his budget will "profoundly reform" the way the Pentagon buys weapons and does business.
He called for production of the F-22 jet to stop at 187 jets. There are 183 in the U.S. military now, so just four more would be funded as part of the fiscal 2009 supplemental budget if President Obama approves the recommendations. The planes cost $140 million each.
Lockheed Martin has already warned that ending this production would result in the loss of over 90,000 jobs.
Gates also said he plans to cut programs like a new helicopter for the president. The Army's modernization program would be scaled back, while a new satellite system and a search-and-rescue helicopter would be cut.
To fight new threats from insurgents, Gates is proposing more funding for special forces and other tools.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, said in a written statement that Gates' plan was a "major step in the right direction."
"It has long been necessary to shift spending away from weapon systems plagued by scheduling and cost overruns to ones that strike the correct balance between the needs of our deployed forces and the requirements for meeting the emerging threats of tomorrow," he said.
But Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., in YouTube video posted on his Senate Web site, said he was "very disappointed" Obama was preparing to cut the military budget at a time of war, while he's increasing spending everywhere else.
"I can't believe what we heard today," he said. "Right now we have our men and women in uniform, in harm's way, and we hear an announcement we're gutting ... our military." - FOX News
Although I agree that the way we spend money in Defense sometimes needs a major overhaul, I find it very dangerous that in a time with unprecedented Government Spending and all departments getting major boosts to spending, the only department downsizing is the Departmnet of Defense. This is scary stuff. If we need Defense you can't just up the spending and it be there tomorrow.
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