Congressional Pressure Rises To Keep Building F-22
With a March 1 deadline looming, 194 U.S. House members have signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to continue building F-22 stealth fighters.
The letter was delivered to the White House on Jan. 20 as Obama began work on an $825 billion plan aimed at creating jobs and reinvigorating the U.S. economy.
While first stressing that more F-22s "are critical to the security of our nation," the lawmakers also emphasized that building F-22s keeps 25,000 workers employed and that "another 70,000 Americans indirectly owe their jobs to this program."
Forty-four senators signed a similar letter Jan. 16.
So far, there has been no response from the White House to the letters, said an aide to Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., who was instrumental in drafting the letter and rounding up signers.
The Senate letter reminds Obama that the 2009 Defense Authorization Act requires him to certify by March 1 that continued production of F-22s is in the national interest. Without presidential certification, layoffs will begin as orders for F-22 parts cease and the supplier base begins to shut down, lawmakers warn.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has questioned the need for more F-22s, reminding lawmakers during hearings last year that the costly planes have not been used in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. More recently, Gates has stressed the need for a better balance between spending on costly, high-tech weapons and on less exotic hardware needed for fighting the current wars and conflicts that seem more likely than war against high-tech foes.
The Air Force has funding for 183 F-22s, but the House letter says, "We are convinced that this number is insufficient to meet potential threats." The Air Force has argued for at least 381.
The Lockheed-built planes now cost about $140 million apiece. When two decades of development costs are added, the cost comes to more than $350 million per aircraft.
Dicks and the other signatories warn that "several" nations are developing stealthy, twin-engine fighters to challenge the F-22, and that sophisticated Russian SA-20, S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missiles are proliferating worldwide. Stealthy warplanes are better able to avoid the missiles.
But the jobs issue may prove to be a more convincing argument in the current economic climate.
"The F-22 program annually provides over $12 billion of economic activity to the national economy," the House members wrote.
Keeping the F-22 alive will preserve high-paying jobs at 1,000 companies in 44 states, the lawmakers said. In all, the F-22 program generates employment for 95,000 workers, they said.
Said the senators, "Eliminating the $12 billion in economic activity and thousands of American jobs tied to F-22 production simply doesn't make sense" in the current economic downturn.
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