On Tuesday the US senate voted against the production of the F-22s (stealth fighters) for the Air Force. The vote followed President Obama’s strong campaign to end the production of F-22s. All told, there was almost 2 billion dollars earmarked for the development of 7 more F-22 raptors. In an effort to trim the budget wherever possible, the senate voted to cut the production of the new raptors to save the money. The new raptors where part of a larger defense bill being considered by the senate which totaled 680 billion dollars.
Obama, clearly pleased with the cut, stated “At a time when we’re fighting two wars and facing a serious deficit, this would have been an inexcusable waste of money.” He continued to call the F-22s “outdated” and stated that pursuing outdated and unnecessary military programs would only drive the country further into debt.
Do you agree with this most recent move to cut the F-22s? I have to admit that at first I was skeptical of this action. However we are in a time of great economic depression. Can we really afford to simply drop another 2 billion dollars to yield just 7 stealth jets? Hopefully when the economy improves spending on military advancement will pick up. Until then, we have to wisely disperse military funds so that the programs that need it most will be equipped. It is truly a difficult task to decipher which programs to support and which ones to cut. My hope is that we can find a balance between frugality and a strong defense program with continual development.
