TCS Statement on F/A-22's Skyrocketing Costs
Washington,
D.C. - The following is a written statement by Keith Ashdown,
Vice President of Policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense on
the new report by
the General Accounting Office on the F/A-22:
A General
Accounting Office (GAO) study released today reports that
the per-unit cost of the F/A-22 Raptor has swelled to $330
million and calls for the Pentagon to do a study about the
continued need for this embattled program. The reports also
shows the Air Force has shown a complete disregard for Congress’s
efforts to control the costs of this white elephant. In short,
with record budget deficits and greater need to support our
men and women in uniform, Congress needs to act swiftly and
eliminate this platinum-plated boondoggle.
The Pentagon
says they can only build 218 fighter jets at the cost of $71.8
billion, but they still plan to build 277, despite massive
cost overruns and the ongoing technological failures in the
avionics of the jet fighter. Also, surprisingly, they are
now saying they will need another $8 billion more to modernize
the F/A-22 for full air-to-ground capabilities.
Since
its inception, Air Force officials have low-balled costs and
downplayed the technological problems of the F/A-22 to reduce
political risk to the program. Over that time, this has become
a case study in how not to manage a military weapons program.
Just as
regularly as the seasons change, the cost of this program
keeps going up. The new estimate of $330 million per plane
is sure to give taxpayers an acute case of sticker shock.
This program has become a fiscal black hole, one that has
absorbed the light of reason and now is just burning through
taxpayer dollars. Just last year, the per-unit cost estimate
was around $253 million and now, just a year later, costs
have gone up almost $80 million a copy.
Since
the beginning of this program the Pentagon has been trying
to build a Lamborghini at Honda Civic prices. To perpetuate
this illusion, the Air Force has made unsubstantiated claims
and downplayed major problems to squelch criticism of their
pet project. They have gone to great lengths to make this
luxury plane look like a mini-van: affordable and necessary.
The truth
of the matter is that we don’t need an air superiority
fighter or a bomber, the former being unnecessary to fight
modern opponents and the latter being something we have plenty
of. Rather than continue to delude themselves and the American
taxpayer, the Air Force needs to admit that the program is
obsolete and over cost.
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