Obama urged to make quick decision on fighter jet

The next administration can waste no time deciding whether to buy more F-22 Raptor fighter jets if it hopes to prevent the procurement program's costs from spiking, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.

Defense acquisition chief John Young told the House Armed Services Air and Land Subcommittee at a hearing that President-elect Obama's Pentagon might need to decide as soon as Jan. 21 -- the day after the inauguration -- whether to continue buying more F-22s.

Should the new administration's defense team wait much longer, it would run the risk of costing taxpayers "a little more money if they buy themselves decision space," he said.

Last week, the Defense Department agreed to obligate $50 million as a down payment this fiscal year for four additional F-22s that would be procured in fiscal 2010 - a move that several lawmakers at the hearing called inadequate and a flagrant violation of law.

Congress agreed in the now-enacted fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill to authorize as much as $140 million for advanced procurement on 20 F-22s to keep the Lockheed Martin fighter's production lines up and running until the new administration sets up shop.

Should Obama administration officials opt to buy 20 more fighters in fiscal 2010, Congress approved a total of $523 million in fiscal 2009 for advanced procurement on those planes.

Armed Services Air and Land Subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, said that the $50 million fell far short of the amount needed to keep the aircraft's long-lead suppliers in business until a firm decision on the program is made by the next administration.

The Pentagon's decision to obligate only $50 million is a "willful rejection of what you've been ordered to do," Abercrombie said.

Abercrombie added that the cost to restart production could range between $200 million and $500 million, depending on how long it takes for the new crop of administration officials to decide the future of the program.

Pentagon plans call for 183 F-22s, the last 20 of which will be procured this year. But the Air Force has said it wants as many as 381 of the fighters and Defense Secretary Gates has agreed to punt that politically sensitive decision.

The decision on the fate of the F-22 program, which has popular support in Congress due to its network of subcontractors in more than 40 states, is a difficult one for an incoming administration trying to grapple with a federal budget hamstrung by the costs of addressing the economic downturn.

With only the $50 million down payment, the House Armed Services Committee projects each Raptor will cost between $163 million and $178 million. Had the Pentagon approved the full $140 million, each plane would have cost $153 million, according to the committee's figures.

During the contentious hearing, Young argued the Pentagon did not want to obligate the entire $140 million for a program with an uncertain future. The $50 million, Young said, would keep production lines running until January.

Lockheed Martin Corp., the prime contractor, has given the Pentagon varying estimates on the cost risks associated with obligating only a small portion of the $140 million provided by Congress, he said, adding that "the numbers keep moving."

Meanwhile, Young argued that the decision complies with the intent of Congress to keep the F-22 lines running, while preserving the option of buying more of the fighters for the next administration.

"They have every option available to them," Young said. "That is my job, to make available to them every possible option."

In preparing transition materials, Young said the F-22 issue was among several he had outlined as needing almost immediate action. The issue, he added, requires the attention of the Obama transition team now.