Considering the heat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has heaped on USAF over the past few years, his actions at Thursday’s Capitol Hill hearing on the Air Force budget were relatively benign. He pointed out that a lot of the ongoing military recapitalization is taking place in the Air Force and asked, “Do you think at some point we’re going to run into a brick wall?” He then asked service leader Michael Wynne to undertake a study of the costs of the new acquisitions, analyzing recent historic data on weapon system cost escalation to enable lawmakers to make educated decisions about where to spend. But, then McCain said, “If we’re going to have to make a decision between F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter, I’d like to make that decision sooner rather than later.” He added, “I’m not saying we are.” Hmmmm.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
