CQ Politics | Obama Seeks to Delay Tanker, Cancel Bomber - The Diigo Meta page

• 10 Mar 09
  

  TransTracker

  Add this to the fact that SecDef Gates wants to cancel the F-22 and slow the buying of C-17s and one begins to wonder if he is not overseeing the dismantling of the Air Force entirely. No new fighters, no new bombers, no new tankers, no new transports. At this rate, in 10 years the Air Force will have gone extinct.

  airpower air_force procurement

  • The White House has given the Pentagon guidance to delay procurement of aerial refueling tankers by five years and cancel plans for a new long-range bomber, according to three sources close to the discussions.

  • Air power advocates and military officials contend that the moves, if enacted, would hurt U.S. strategic might and put at risk missions that depend on the aging tanker and bomber fleets.

    
    

    “The Air Force needs a new tanker desperately,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Dunn, president of the Air Force Association. “The KC-135 tanker averages over 47 years old, and the B-52 bomber is almost as old.”

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