Senate panel to take another look at fighter jet proposal
Plan to raise healthcare premiums for some military retirees will be discussed this week on the House side.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will again consider a Pentagon budget-cutting proposal to drop an alternate engine program for the Joint Strike Fighter at an Airland Subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
So far, the fiscal 2007 decision on the fighter program, which Pentagon officials expect will save $1.8 billion in the short term, has drawn more scrutiny from the Senate panel than any other procurement program in the defense budget request.
The Pentagon wants to eliminate an engine produced by General Electric and the British firm Rolls Royce, leaving Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney as the sole engine producer for the multibillion dollar international program.
Great Britain, which is opposed to the cut, is the largest international investor in the program.
Aside from the Joint Strike Fighter, lawmakers will review other Navy and Air Force aviation programs during the hearing, including the F/A-22 Raptor fighter jet.
Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Projection Forces Subcommittee meets with Navy and industry officials Tuesday to examine the service's plans to buy only one submarine annually until 2012, and two a year after that.
Republican Rep. Rob Simmons, who sits on the subcommittee, has led a congressional drive to increase submarine buys to two a year beginning in 2009. Simmons' Connecticut district includes General Dynamics' Electric Boat outfit.
On Wednesday, the House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee will hear testimony from Pentagon officials on their plans to raise healthcare premiums and other fees for military retirees under the age of 65.
The proposal would save the Pentagon $11 billion over the next five years. But several lawmakers are concerned the plan might burden retirees, including veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.