Sign On Letter

Support Amendments to Remove Additional F-22s from the Defense Authorization bill

Dear Senator:
Please support any amendment to the FY10 defense authorization bill, S. 1033, to eliminate funds for procurement of 7 F-22 Raptor fighter jets and avoid a Presidential veto.

Defense Secretary Gates requested four additional F-22s in the FY09 Supplemental Appropriations Act that the President has already signed, completing the fleet at 187 planes and ending production. We oppose the additional seven aircraft sought by the Senate Armed Services Committee in the FY10 defense authorization at a cost of $1.75 billion for FY10. This money was not requested by the Secretary of Defense, the Air Force, or the President, and is urgently needed to support other goals and projects.

In fact, The Administration’s June 24 Statement of Administration Policy made clear that inclusion of additional funds for F-22s would force the President’s senior advisers to recommend a veto.

The F-22s are to be funded in part from anticipated savings from the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act, which have no budgetary basis. Using this kind of offset is irresponsible spending that translates into smoke and mirrors budgeting. Our organizations and the Administration are concerned that the only way to fund this unnecessary acquisition will be to cut other programs, and we find this unacceptable.

The F-22 is the most advanced air-to-air fighter in the world. Yet it has only limited air-to-ground attack capabilities, which makes it unsuitable for today’s counterinsurgency operations. The F-22 was designed to fight next-generation Soviet fighters that never materialized and it has never been used in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

In addition, a former engineer at Lockheed Martin, the plane’s manufacturer, has just filed a lawsuit against the company accusing it of knowingly providing defective coatings used to reduce the aircraft's radar and visual signatures. While still preliminary, these accusations throw one of the F-22’s major reasons for existence into question.

Air Force leadership itself no longer supports continued production of the F- 22. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz have publicly withdrawn support for this unneeded weapons platforms saying, “The time has come to move on.” Secretary Gates has said even if he had $50 billion more to spend he would not buy any more F-22s. Not only is the F-22 not in the budget prepared by Robert Gates and the Defense Department, it is also not on the Air Force’s list of unfunded requests.

Ending procurement of the F-22 will not have a major impact on jobs. Lockheed Martin currently employs 20-40,000 workers in producing the F-22, based on estimates that include direct, indirect and induced employment.[1] These losses will be significantly offset by jobs created by the increase in F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production.

The argument that continued production of the F-22 is needed to protect our industrial base is also unfounded. This argument overlooks the fact that the Obama Administration’s proposed FY10 budget seeks to buy 28 F-35s.

Wasteful spending in this era of an unprecedented budget deficit should not be tolerated. We ask for your help to oppose the addition of $1.75 billion in the FY10 Defense Authorization bill.
Sincerely,

(Signatures in progress)

[1] William D. Hartung, “MILITARY SPENDING AND EMPLOYMENT: The Case of the F-22”, The New America Foundation, February 25, 2009