De-Raptorized

The Senate has voted to halt production of the F-22 Raptor at 187 units.

In April, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced plans to invest more defense funds in intelligence and personnel and to shift money away from big weapons systems like the F-22. And President Obama had lobbied intensely against funding the planes, threatening what would have been his first veto.

The administration plans to shift funding to the single-engine F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, which also would be available to the Navy and Marine Corps and which Gates said would be superior to the F-22s in combat. The Pentagon also has proposed adding 22,000 troops to the Army.

That's great -- as long as it's true. While the Raptor is a fascinating gadget box, I have to agree that F-35s would probably prove more useful. I suspect, however, that it's just the corporate line. The only direction this Administration is likely to shift any defense dollars is into social engineering black holes.

Here's the really disgusting part, though:

Subcontracting work on F-22s and F-35s is done in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Democratic California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also opposed the amendment.

Boxer criticized the timing of Tuesday's vote, arguing that it ignored the next Quadrennial Defense Review, the Pentagon's outline for national security strategy, due in early 2010.

"The United States has made a significant investment in the F-22 program," Boxer said in a statement. "Before terminating it, I believe we must see in unequivocal terms how the defense planning process has determined that requirements and threats have changed to stop production at 187."

The jets' engines are made by Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut. The state's two senators -- Democrat Christopher J. Dodd and independent Joe Lieberman -- opposed the amendment.

The fighter jets are manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp. at a plant in Marietta, Ga. According to the company, 25,000 people are directly employed in building the F-22, and an additional 70,000 have indirect links.

Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia also voted against the amendment, and Isakson has vowed to push to keep money for the plane in the recently passed House version of the bill.

In case you've been living under a rock for the last twenty years, Boxer and Feinstein are both hard-core leftists with a strong anti-military streak. Dodd isnt' much better. They don't want the F-22, they want the money it brings to their states so they can get re-elected.

Ultimately, the fate of our country is decided by a bunch of greedy assholes who neither know nor care about the real needs of the people defending it. It's all about vote-buying.

All Incumbents Out.