Senate panel votes to kill F-22 fighter
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to kill Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 fighter jet, the most advanced U.S. fighter, and largely backed other program cuts sought by President Barack Obama.
By a 30 to 0 vote that took 15 minutes and featured no debate, the panel approved a $636.3 billion defense budget for fiscal 2010, which starts October 1.
The measure also would kill a combat search-and-rescue helicopter, a presidential helicopter and a missile-defense project called Kinetic Energy Interceptor.
It includes $128.2 billion for "overseas contingency operations," primarily to keep fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The legislation would cap the F-22 "Raptor" fleet at 187, down from an original Air Force Cold War-era plan to buy as many as 750 of the supersonic, radar-evading air-superiority fighters.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, announcing plans to terminate the F-22 on April 6, said doing so was "not a close call." He said the military should gear up more for wars such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The bill, which must be reconciled with the House of Representatives' version, provided no funds for a second, interchangeable engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The alternate engine, which Obama considers wasteful, would be veto bait, the White House has said. In July, the House approved $560 million for the second engine development as part of its 2010 defense appropriations bill, despite the veto threat.
General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group PLC, partners in the second engine, have said they are confident a House-Senate conference committee will preserve competition for the F-35 engine.
Sen. Daniel Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat who chairs the appropriations committee and its defense subpanel, told reporters he did not know how the second engine's fate would play out.
"Apparently the Senate is not for it, so we'll go into conference on that basis. But as always, my mind is open," he said.
The Senate panel put rival United Technologies Corp's Pratt & Whitney unit, maker of a fully funded engine for the F-35, a step closer to a monopoly over a projected $100 billion market.
At issue is the engine and its aftermarket for three variants of the F-35, a single-engine Lockheed Martin fighter in early stages of production. It would replace at least 13 types of warplanes, initially for 11 nations.
The Senate committee, in sync with recommendations made Wednesday by its defense subpanel, broke with Obama on Boeing Co's C-17 cargo plane. It added $2.5 billion to sustain the production line by buying 10 more in 2010. The administration wants to end the C-17 program without further purchases.
The House approved $674 million in its defense appropriations bill to buy three more C-17s.
The full Senate could vote on the defense bill as early as next week. House and Senate representatives then meet to mesh their legislation before it is sent to the White House. The House-Senate conference is on track to take place by the end of this month, said Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the Senate panel's top Republican.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Andre Grenon)
Source: Reuters
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