Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Keith Ashdown, Vice President of Policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense on the new report by the General Accounting Office on the F/A-22:

A General Accounting Office (GAO) study released today reports that the per-unit cost of the F/A-22 Raptor has swelled to $330 million and calls for the Pentagon to do a study about the continued need for this embattled program. The reports also shows the Air Force has shown a complete disregard for Congress’s efforts to control the costs of this white elephant. In short, with record budget deficits and greater need to support our men and women in uniform, Congress needs to act swiftly and eliminate this platinum-plated boondoggle.

The Pentagon says they can only build 218 fighter jets at the cost of $71.8 billion, but they still plan to build 277, despite massive cost overruns and the ongoing technological failures in the avionics of the jet fighter. Also, surprisingly, they are now saying they will need another $8 billion more to modernize the F/A-22 for full air-to-ground capabilities.

Since its inception, Air Force officials have low-balled costs and downplayed the technological problems of the F/A-22 to reduce political risk to the program. Over that time, this has become a case study in how not to manage a military weapons program.

Just as regularly as the seasons change, the cost of this program keeps going up. The new estimate of $330 million per plane is sure to give taxpayers an acute case of sticker shock. This program has become a fiscal black hole, one that has absorbed the light of reason and now is just burning through taxpayer dollars. Just last year, the per-unit cost estimate was around $253 million and now, just a year later, costs have gone up almost $80 million a copy.

Since the beginning of this program the Pentagon has been trying to build a Lamborghini at Honda Civic prices. To perpetuate this illusion, the Air Force has made unsubstantiated claims and downplayed major problems to squelch criticism of their pet project. They have gone to great lengths to make this luxury plane look like a mini-van: affordable and necessary.

The truth of the matter is that we don’t need an air superiority fighter or a bomber, the former being unnecessary to fight modern opponents and the latter being something we have plenty of. Rather than continue to delude themselves and the American taxpayer, the Air Force needs to admit that the program is obsolete and over cost.

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