LISA NIPP
to happen. I haven’t been involved
because I’m also not in tactical air
that much.
On the other hand, we put all of
our eggs in one basket. We have to
have that fifth-generation fighter.
Certainly the fact that they decided
to take on the toughest thing first,
which is the STOVL version for the
Marine Corps, the Marine Corps put
all their eggs in one basket. … I saw
a Marine general who told me, “We
don’t need any F-18s. We don’t need
them at all. You can just take them
away. We know what we’ve got
going. We’re confident.”
Well, OK, except you don’t have
a plane now. So it doesn’t surprise
me that that would be the one that
would slip the most because it’s
probably the hardest to do and it’s
probably least like the other planes.
I felt like I’ve extended an inor-
dinate amount of time and effort to
get the Navy to do something that
seemed to me such a no-brainer.
Why don’t you get involved in the
discount [deal for F/A-18s]. You’ve
now got a few years before this other plane comes
online. I’m not going to give them any trouble. The JSF
is a better plane than the F- 18. I want the best plat-
forms for our troops at a reasonable price. But they
knew that [the JSF program] was sliding. They knew
they had a strike fighter shortfall. …
If you know you’ve got three or four years to pur-
chase an airplane, why not lock down the price so the
manufacturer knows they’ve got a certain amount of
production? You can buy the materials cheaper, you can
machine the parts cheaper, the industrial base is in bet-
ter shape. The military saves $600 million. What’s so
complicated about this? So, now, they’re going to add an
additional year to that [JSF], which makes sense.
What technologies do you think the Navy and
Marine Corps should be looking for, for future
capabilities?
AKIN: There are quite a few [factors]. First of all, num-
bers — numbers of ships. Second, you’ve got to deal
with wobbling ballistic missiles. Third, you’ve got to
deal with extremely high-speed cruise missiles. Fourth,
you’ve got to deal with very silent diesel-electric sub-
marines. And then you’ve got to deal with the fact that
we cut our capability or reduced our capability in terms
of intercontinental ballistic missiles, that is, the very-
high-flying missiles. And there is a promise that we’re
going to deal with that using the Aegis program, which
cannot get the velocity we need to stop those things.
