Veto Threat Spurs F-22 Cuts

Emma Ensign

Under a threat by President Barack Obama to use his veto power for the first time, Congress has taken steps to cut spending for additional F-22 fighter jets.

Obama issued the veto threat as part of the administration’s declared intent to shift defense spending away from certain major weapons programs and toward support for systems that meet current U.S. war-fighting needs.

The June 24 threat came one day before the House passed the $680 billion defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2010. The bill allocates money for the production of seven additional F-22s to supplement the 187 for which Congress has already approved funding. Forty-four of the purchased planes are still being built.

In an April 6 speech, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates vowed to terminate appropriations for programs he said no longer reflected “contemporary wartime needs.” He emphasized instead the need to “enhance our capabilities to fight the wars we are in today” and those that the United States is most likely to face in the future, “while at the same time providing a hedge against other risks and contingencies.” Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has publicly stated that 187 planes would be sufficient to meet operational requirements.

Obama made it clear in a statement of administration policy released in June that he would veto any defense spending legislation that included provisions for more F-22s, which he called an “inexcusable waste of money.”

During debate on the Senate version of the defense authorization bill, Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and others argued that the loss of planes would hurt U.S. defense capabilities and negatively affect jobs in the defense sector. On its Web site, Lockheed Martin, the lead contractor for the F-22, says that subcontractors and suppliers in 44 states manufacture parts and subsystems for the plane.

In late July, the Senate voted 58-40 in favor of an amendment offered by Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and the panel’s ranking Republican, John McCain (Ariz.), stripping $1.75 billion in funding for the aircraft. During committee markup, Chambliss had offered an amendment, which was approved by a 13-11 vote, to add $1.75 billion for seven additional planes. The Levin-McCain amendment reversed the committee vote, bringing the funding back down to the level the administration requested. The House and Senate have yet to reconcile their authorization bills.

In the defense appropriations bill, the House voted 269-165 for an amendment to remove a provision calling for $369 million for 12 additional F-22s. The House approved the full appropriations bill July 30. The Senate is expected to take up appropriations when it returns from recess in September.

The F-22, widely considered to be the world’s most advanced fighter jet, was originally designed to win dogfights against possible Soviet air-defense fighters and is not well suited to support ground troops or other counterinsurgency missions. It can perform high-altitude tactical operations and is encased in a radar-absorbing skin. It has never been used in combat.

It has also suffered increasing maintenance costs. According to the Air Force, each hour of F-22 flight costs more than $44,000 and requires more than 30 hours of repair.

Proponents of the F-22 have pointed to the possibility of developing an export model of the fighter jet, a plan complicated by the current U.S. export ban on the plane. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) is one of several legislators expressing interest in reversing an amendment to the fiscal year 1998 defense appropriations bill prohibiting the sale of the F-22 to other countries. The provision was intended to protect the technology from falling into the hands of countries hostile to U.S. interests.

U.S. allies such as Japan and Australia have expressed an interest in buying the F-22. Japan in particular has been looking at the F-22 as a possible replacement for its fleet of F-43Js. The U.S. Air Force estimates that it would cost Japan around $250 million per plane to buy the F-22, according to a letter from Inouye to Ichiro Fujisaki, the Japanese ambassador to the United States.