http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=67714
Stars and Stripes February 1, 2010 Air Force ramping up aircraft purchases, manned or not By Jeff Schogol ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force wants to buy 149 planes in fiscal 2011, up sharply from the 93 planes it plans on buying this fiscal year. Atop the Air Force’s shopping list in the fiscal 2011 budget released Monday is the MQ-9A Reaper, an unmanned aerial vehicle that can carry a payload of 3,000 pounds, compared with the Predator’s 500-pound payload. The service plans on buying 48 Reapers next fiscal year, twice as many as in fiscal 2010, Air Force budget documents show. Twelve of those aircraft would replace Predators that have been lost in action, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Al Flowers, deputy assistant secretary for budget. The Air Force also plans on buying 23 F-35A Lightning II aircraft, better known as the Joint Strike Fighter, one of which would replace an F-15 that the Air Force lost, Flowers said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the F-35 program “critically important,” on Monday, but he said the aircraft’s performance over the past years “has not been what it should.” Not elaborating, Gates announced he was firing the head of the Joint Strike Fighter program and making a three-star general officer the new program manager. Also for next fiscal year, the Air Force wants to buy 15 “Light Mobility Aircraft,” budget documents show. .... The budget also calls for improved housing at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Aviano Air Base in Italy and Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato Blog site: http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/ To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwroz...@yahoo.com or stopnato-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. ==============================
