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 March 15, 2004 Bi-partisan group of taxpayer and military watchdogs call on the White House to shut down the F/A-22 jet fighter program |
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| March 15, 2004 Joshua B. Bolten Director Office of Management and Budget 725 17th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20503 Dear Mr. Bolten: We commend the OMB for its decision to conduct a review to determine if the F/A-22 jet fighter is still relevant to fighting today's and future wars. The F/A-22 program was originally developed to fight a threat that no longer exists. We believe the F/A-22 is a bad buy for the taxpayers and not being developed in the best interest of U.S. fighting men and women. More than $36 billion has been spent on the F/A-22 and total program cost estimates continue to rise, with the latest estimate totaling $71.8 billion. Cost overruns have caused the Air Force to drastically cut the number of aircraft to be procured, resulting in a situation where the military is getting fewer and fewer aircraft at a greater and greater cost. Originally, the Air Force planned to purchase 750 of the aircraft. However, testing delays, technological trade-offs, and increasing development costs have scaled down the planned F/A-22 buy to 202 aircraft with an astonishing per unit cost of $355 million. The General Accounting Office believes the F/A-22 program will continue to experience further testing delays and cost overruns. It considers the Air Force's acquisition strategy at "high risk" for increases in production costs. This is in part because the F/A-22, which has been on the drawing board for more than two decades, has not yet begun operational testing by the Pentagon's independent tester, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E). The American taxpayer cannot know the capabilities of the F/A-22 until the testing regime is implemented by DOT&E, as the only truly independent evaluator of weapons inside the Pentagon. As the post-9/11 defense budget returns to near Cold War levels, the F/A-22 should be a top candidate for being cut. Our organizations urge the Administration to end the F/A-22 program and redirect the saved funds to more urgent national security needs or deficit reduction. Sincerely, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation National Taxpayers Union Project On Government Oversight Taxpayers for Common Sense
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