Loren Thompson, a senior defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, notes that, if all plans remain unchanged, by early next decade, the Bush Administration will have closed production for all major military aircraft. Speaking Tuesday at the AFA Washington conference’s industrial base forum, Thompson said that defense industrial base issues are “simply … not a priority” for the Bush Administration.
The Air Force plans to buy up to 11,200 copies of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and its anti-ship variant over the next five to seven years, a dramatic increase in production for the critical long-range cruise missiles