Air Force wants accelerated production of strike fighters

Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz Tuesday told lawmakers that he wants the Pentagon to accelerate acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, buying as many of the fighter jets each year as the military can afford and Lockheed Martin Corp. can produce. During testimony on the Defense Department's fiscal 2010 budget request before the House Armed Services Committee, Schwartz called it "imperative" that the Air Force buy at least 80 F-35s a year -- and as many as 110 annually -- as soon as possible.

In its fiscal 2010 request, the Pentagon plans to spend $10.4 billion to buy 30 F-35s next year, 10 of which are for the Air Force. All told, the Air Force wants to buy 1,700 F-35s. To make room in its budget for F-35 procurement, the Air Force wants to retire 250 older F-15s, F-16s and A-10s. Schwartz and Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said retiring the older jets would save $3.5 billion over the next six years, an amount the Pentagon could also use to modernize other fighters. Schwartz assured lawmakers that it was necessary to retire the older fighters, even if the size of the fighter fleet shrinks temporarily as the service buys large numbers of F-35s.

House Armed Services Committee ranking member John McHugh, R-N.Y., argued that the Air Force is putting an "awful lot of faith" in the Joint Strike Fighter, a program that is just entering production. He stressed that the Air Force must invest the savings generated from the retirement of the older fighters in modernizing its remaining fighter fleet and building "a glide path to the F-35." If not, McHugh warned, "the wheels are coming off the bus." Donley acknowledged that the F-35 is making a "difficult transition" from its development phase to early production, and said the Defense Department must keep to the program's cost and schedule goals. "It is an extremely important program and we can and must make it a success," Donley said.

Meanwhile, Schwartz said he was determined to restart Air Force planning for a next-generation bomber, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates scrapped in the fiscal 2009 budget request. The Air Force had hoped to field the bomber, which was not yet on contract, by 2018. Schwartz said the Air Force would use deliberations during the Quadrennial Defense Review -- a comprehensive examination of defense strategy and force structure -- to make Gates more "comfortable" with the program. Gates last week told the Senate Armed Services Committee that advances in unmanned technologies since the Air Force first launched the bomber program in 2006 were among his reasons for putting the brakes on the plans.