Procurement: March 10, 2001

Archives

The Bush Administration has quietly signaled that it will "go slow" on missile defense (perhaps with a demonstration program for anti-missiles on aegis cruisers and a vague plan to migrate the defenses to space sometime after 2010) as pushing hard on missile defense now would endanger vital aircraft programs. The F-22 is virtually sacrosanct (since having a decisively superior fighter opens the door for all other aircraft types), the Joint Strike Fighter will be delayed by a year so that it can meet its requirements, and the V-22 is in serious danger. After 10 years of development, the V-22 is said by critics to still be unready for troop use and may be scrapped in favor of buying more UH-60, CH-43, and CH-47 helicopters. The Air Force is currently planning to delay the first batch of 14 F-22 Raptor fighters in order to spend $475 million on initiatives to reduce future production costs.--Stephen V Cole


 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close