Cohen asks Senate not to delay Joint Strike Fighter funding

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen is pleading with the Senate Armed Services Committee "not to delay by law" the $200 billion Joint Strike Fighter program during the committee's ongoing markup of the fiscal 2001 defense authorization bill.

"This would send a disproportionate and troubling signal," he said.

Cohen's letter, obtained by National Journal News Service, added fuel to the argument waged in the committee's closed-door markup Thursday over whether the selection of the JSF contractor should be delayed by six months to allow the fighter-bomber's high-tech systems to undergo fuller testing. Funding for the plane would be cut if this course were followed.

Due to a gag order imposed by Chairman John W. Warner, R-Va., committee members and staff were tight-lipped about their discussions of the fiscal year 2001 defense authorization bill, although sources confirmed that they took up the JSF program. The panel plans to reconvene May 9 and again May 10, if necessary.

If past is prologue, the committee will stop short of a flat six-month delay and settle for pacing the release of money to the achievement of specified technical milestones to be written into the authorization bill. This is what Congress did last year on the Air Force F-22 fighter and is the compromise Cohen is now advocating.

"I know you agree with me that JSF is critical to our nation's future defenses, and that time is of the essence, given our aging TACAIR [tactical aircraft] fleet," Cohen wrote Warner in a letter dated May 3.

"I understand that you believe a six month delay in the program simply reflects the fact-of-life delays that will occur anyway," the defense secretary said of the Pentagon's giant JSF program, which calls for building 3,000 planes for about $200 billion. The Pentagon's hoped-for foreign purchases could push the production run up to 5,000 JSFs, making it by far the modern world's biggest military aircraft program.

"I cannot guarantee against any slippage in the program schedule," said Cohen in recognition of technical problems being experienced by the competing contractors, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, in the current research and development phase of the JSF, Cohen wrote.

"We will continue to work very hard to avoid delays. Whether or not we are successful, however, I urge you not to mandate a delay," he added. The Pentagon is scheduled to choose either Boeing or Lockheed next March to conduct the crucial and expensive engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the JSF.

"If you are concerned that we not proceed to the EMD phase until all three JSF models have been tested successfully, I urge you to address this concern directly, by prohibiting the [Defense] Department from proceeding to EMD until these events occur," Cohen continued, inviting the committee to set down milestones of achievement.

Cohen said that he agreed "wholeheartedly" that proven technical progress, not the calendar, should determine the pace and funding of the JSF. But he said writing a six month delay in contractor selection would amount to letting the calendar, not technical progress, determine how fast the plane proceeds toward production.

On other issues, committee members favoring a larger fleet of attack submarines said mandating production of five more Virginia class submarines beyond the one President Clinton requested for fiscal 2001 would harden the congressional commitment to expand the fleet beyond the current plan of 60 boats. This would adhere closely to the Pentagon's long-range master plan, they argued.

Outgunned congressional opponents have contended there is not enough of an undersea threat to justify building a big fleet of $2 billion-a-copy Virginia class nuclear submarines. The submarines would be built by General Dynamics' Electric Boat Division in Gorton, Conn., and by Newport News (Va.) Shipbuilding.