Top general warns against ending F-22 fighter

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Air Force general, swerving from the Pentagon leadership, said ending production of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 Raptor fighter jet, as proposed by President Barack Obama, posed a high risk to U.S. ability to carry out its current military strategy.

"In my opinion, a fleet of 187 F-22s puts execution of our current national military strategy at high risk in the near- to mid-term," Gen. John Corley, head of the Air Combat Command, wrote in a June 9 letter to a senator.

"To my knowledge, there are no studies that demonstrate 187 F-22s are adequate to support our national military strategy," he added in the letter to Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Republican from Georgia, where the plane undergoes final assembly.

An analysis by the Air Combat Command, which supplies warplanes to regional U.S. warfighting commands, "done in concert with Headquarters Air Force, shows a moderate risk can be obtained with an F-22 fleet of approximately 250 aircraft," said Corley, who has announced plans to retire this fall.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked Congress to end purchases of the radar-evading F-22, the top U.S. fighter, on the stated ground there was no military need for more. With production capped at 187, the last would roll off the line in late 2011 or early 2012.

Defying Gates and Obama, the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee voted 31 to 30 early Wednesday to authorize purchase of 12 more F-22s with a down payment of $369 million in fiscal 2010, which starts Oct. 1. The provision kicked off a battle likely to last months as the matter comes to votes elsewhere in the House and Senate.

Gates, at a Pentagon briefing Thursday, said he had a "big problem" with the vote on the F-22. It has emerged as the preeminent symbol of pricey programs he aims to end in favor of spending on lower-tech arms for Iraq- and Afghanistan-type irregular conflicts.

"Frankly, to be blunt about it, the notion that not buying 60 more F-22s imperils the national security of the United States, I find completely nonsense," Gates said.