Bush- Nation cant pay for all three new fighters

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press March 15, 2001.
 

WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W. Bush says the nation may not be able to afford all three new fighter jets the Pentagon wants.

Analysts have speculated for months that one of the three aircraft could be on the budget chopping block.

The three programs are the Air Force's $62 billion F-22 stealth fighter; the $200 billion joint strike fighter fleet for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps; and the Navy's $46 billion F/A-18E&F Super Hornet fighter-bomber.

"There are three potential fighters, and I think it is realistic for me, the president, to say to people that I'm not so sure we can afford all three," Bush said in a Tuesday evening session with reporters from around the country.

"Maybe we can," he said. "But if not, let's pick the best one, and the one that fits into a strategy."

As he conducts a top-to-bottom review of the military, Bush said he was considering such hardware decisions with an eye to "keeping the peace in the long run, the best available technology and the best return on taxpayer Dollar."

The president added that Gen. Michael Ryan, the Air Force chief of staff, personally lobbied him Monday on behalf of the F-22 during Bush's visit to Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla.

Ryan "was anxious to tell me what a good airplane" the F-22 is, Bush said, in response to a question about that plane's future.

"But if it's as good an airplane as I think and fits into the strategic review, I'm confident that (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld will recommend them."

During his presidential campaign, Bush recalled, he backed proceeding with prototype F-22s that were under development.

And during the campaign, Vice President Dick Cheney backed the F-22 and the F/A-18E&F Super Hornet. Cheney is a former defense secretary.