Defense Secretary Robert Gates maintains that the 2010 defense budget proposal does not cut the F-22 Raptor force, instead he told lawmakers May 13 during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, that the Pentagon is merely “completing the program of record that was established in 2005 in the Bush Administration.” Further, Gates maintains that two “different Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff” believe the planned 183 Raptors “was the right number” and, he said, “We now can add the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force to that.” It is true that Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz have agreed to the need to limit the F-22 force to 187 (183 plus four added by Congress), but Schwartz said last month after announcement of the “final” number that the military requirement, in his view, is 243 Raptors. We think it’s important to note that during the armed services panel hearing, Gates told the lawmakers that at least two service chiefs “have been very direct” that they disagree with some of his budget decisions and the lawmakers shouldn’t “worry about their candor at all” when they testify.
The Senate Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces heard testimony from the Defense Department’s top missile defense leaders and demanded to know why the Missile Defense Agency's proposed $9.6 billion fiscal 2023 budget will not yield more reliable defense against hypersonic weapons already being fielded by adversaries, including Russia on…