[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 80 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 80

  Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Department of Defense 
    plans to carry out three new tactical fighter aircraft programs 
                             concurrently.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 30, 1997

    Mr. Feingold (for himself and Mr. Kohl) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Department of Defense 
    plans to carry out three new tactical fighter aircraft programs 
                             concurrently.

Whereas the Department of Defense has proposed to modernize the United States 
        tactical fighter aircraft force through three tactical fighter 
        procurement programs, including the F/A-18 E/F aircraft program of the 
        Navy, the F-22 aircraft program of the Air Force, and the Joint Strike 
        Fighter aircraft program for the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps;
Whereas the General Accounting Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the 
        Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Under Secretary of Defense 
        for Acquisition and Technology, and several Members of Congress have 
        publicly stated that, given the current Department of Defense budget for 
        procurement, the Department of Defense's plan to buy over 4,400 F/A-18 
        E/F aircraft, F-22 aircraft, and Joint Strike Fighter aircraft at a 
        total program cost in excess of $350,000,000,000 is not affordable;
Whereas the Congressional Budget Office estimates that current tactical aircraft 
        plan of the Department of Defense could cost as much as $14,000,000,000 
        to $18,000,000,000 per fiscal year over the period of fiscal years 2002 
        through 2020, not considering inflation, compared to current tactical 
        aircraft funding of about $2,800,000,000 per fiscal year;
Whereas the Pentagon's current acquisition strategy would require at least a 
        54.9 percent increase in annual procurement spending over the next five 
        years, rising from $44,100,000,000 in fiscal year 1997 to 
        $68,300,000,000 in fiscal year 2002;
Whereas the F/A-18 E/F, F-22, and the Joint Strike Fighter tactical fighter 
        programs will be competing for a limited amount of procurement funding 
        with numerous other aircraft acquisition programs, including the 
        Comanche helicopter program, the V-22 Osprey aircraft program, and the 
        C-17 aircraft program, as well as for the necessary replacement of other 
        aging aircraft such as the KC-135, the C-5A, the F-117, and the EA-6B 
        aircraft; and
Whereas history shows that projection of the Department of Defense regarding the 
        number of aircraft that it will procure, the rates at which those 
        aircraft will be produced, and the cost of those aircraft are rarely 
        achieved, and in fact frequently experience significant cost growth on 
        the order of 20 to 40 percent: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the sense of the Senate that the United States 
        cannot afford to carry out all three of the F/A-18 E/F aircraft 
        program, the F-22 aircraft program, and the Joint Strike 
        Fighter aircraft program at the proposed acquisition levels;
            (2) the Department of Defense should reexamine its spending 
        priorities using more realistic assumptions of future spending 
        levels; and
            (3) the Department of Defense should develop an alternative 
        acquisition strategy that would provide the United States with 
        an effective, affordable tactical fighter force structure.
                                 <all>