Pentagon Must Make Case for Costly New Fighter, GAO Says

Pentagon Must Make Case for Costly New Fighter, GAO Says

(EXCERPT) Associated Press Tuesday, March 16, 2004; Page A22

The Pentagon needs to make a case to keep the F/A-22 fighter program
in the face of vastly increased costs and technical problems,
congressional investigators said yesterday.

The General Accounting Office, an arm of Congress, said in a report
that the military can now afford only 218 of the planes within a $36.8
billion spending cap. The Air Force originally planned to buy 750 but
has since reduced the number to 277, which it still says it can afford
once it makes the program more efficient.

The F/A-22 Raptor, intended primarily as a stealthy replacement for
the F-15 Eagle, was built to shoot down other planes. Unlike its
predecess...

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---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com