Aviation wish-lists send mixed signals.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: ANALYSIS

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

At least on paper, the Air Force and Navy have staked the future of their tactical aviation on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

But the services' ongoing pleas for more money to fill what they describe as short-term "gaps" in their fighter inventories--before JSF arrives--are sending confusing and at times inconsistent messages about their modernization plans.

In recent appearances on Capitol Hill, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps officials have argued that their tactical aviation fleets are wearing out and need serious reinforcements soon. Although the JSF is supposed to be in full-rate production in about seven years, the services say they cannot wait that long. The Air Force wants to continue buying F-22 Raptors from Lockheed Martin beyond the 183 jets it is currently authorized to buy. The Navy has hinted it wants to keep purchasing F/A-18E/Fs Super Hornets from Boeing after the current contract runs out in 2013. It also is seeking billions of dollars to extend the life of older Hornets.

The apparent rush to buy more fighter jets only a few years before JSF begins full production has set off a debate at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill about how the services will be able to afford so much new hardware. The Air Force's and the Navy's determination to pour money into non-JSF fighters also casts doubts on the future of the $300 billion F-35 program, whose price goals and schedule are predicated on the U.S. military services and foreign partners buying large numbers of aircraft.

The Air Force has yet to convince Pentagon budget officials and lawmakers that it can afford JSF and also more F-22s--estimated to cost $140 million apiece--beyond the 183 already ordered. The F-22 price tag is nearly twice that of the JSF. Analysts and Pentagon strategists also have questioned whether the Air Force should be acquiring more F-22s at a time when there are no looming threats to U.S. air superiority. The Air Force says it needs more F-22s in addition to the JSF, although the budget does not seem to support that goal, experts said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates cast new light on these issues at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee when he said he would not support extending the F-22 production run beyond the Pentagon's goal of 183. "My worry is that if the F-22 production is expanded, it will come at the expense of the Joint Strike Fighter," Gates said. "The reality is that we are fighting two wars, in Iraq and...