By Emelie Rutherford
Four leading defense authorizers called on the Pentagon yesterday to spend money included in the fiscal year 2009 defense authorization and appropriations acts to allow for possible continued production of the F-22 stealth fighter.
They wrote in a letter sent yesterday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates that Pentagon acquisition chief John Young “recently disapproved an Air Force request” to proceed with obligating $140 million for F-22A advance procurement for 20 aircraft in FY ’10. The money is needed for a contract award by Nov. 27, states the letter to Gates from House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Ranking Member Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), along with Air Land subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) and Ranking Member Jim Saxton (R-N.J.).
Sources said the Air Force and defense officials have been battling over the release of the $140 million in recent weeks.
Though the Pentagon requested no funding from Congress to continue the F-22 line beyond FY ’09, both the FY ’09 defense appropriations and authorization acts add $523 million in advance-procurement funds for the 20 FY ’10 aircraft–thus potentially keeping the line running.
The authorization act, though, includes a provision that would prohibit obligating more than $140 million of those advance funds until the next president decides, no later than March 1, 2009, “whether continuing F-22 production or terminating production would be in the best interests of the Nation,” a bill report says.
The Air Force and F-22 maker Lockheed Martin [LMT] want that $140 million to be obligated, but Pentagon leadership reportedly has resisted.
“We expect the Department to approve the Air Force obligation of $140 million for F-22A advance procurement consistent with the intent of section 134 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009,” the HASC leaders wrote in the letter to Gates.
“The obligation of $140 million for the advance procurement of 20 F-22A aircraft is a prudent and necessary action to sustain F-22A production activities until March 15, 2009, preventing the expenditure of an estimated additional $500 million to restart the F-22A production line,” they said. “In the event the next Administration decides not to procure more F-22As, $40 million of procurement items of the $140 million in advance procurement could be used for the F-22A or F-35 programs.”
Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, said “the problem is that if money for long-lead items is not obligated, the next administration’s decision on whether to close the line or not will be preempted by the lack of parts required to continue production.”
Thompson said his “impression is that John Young is acting at the behest of Deputy Secretary England, who feels that continued production of F-22 potentially impairs the F-35 program.”
Asked yesterday morning, before the HASC letter was released, about why Young had not signed off on spending the $140 million, a Pentagon spokesman said via e-mail: “we are looking for a solution that ‘preserves options for the next administration without spending too much of the taxpayers (dollars) to do so.’ And our course of action will be known shortly.”
In addition, England has indicated the Defense Department “may be considering including a request of advance procurement for four F-22s in the next supplemental (budget) request (for war funding),” according to the HASC letter.