• Research Paper on:
    Future Plans After 2003 Budget Cuts in Defense

    Number of Pages: 6

     

    Summary of the research paper:

    In six pages the 2003 cuts in the defense budget are examined in terms of the future implications on the Raptor construction and whether or not a less costly variation should be constructed with F22 and F35 design comparisons made. Six sources are cited in the annotated bibliography.

    Name of Research Paper File: RT13_SA314cut.rtf

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    Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
    That said, top Air Force and aerospace industry officials explained late in 2002 that the near-term replacements for the EC-130 Compass Call and EA-6B Prowler will be done through a  combination of the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and MC2A aircraft (Fulghum, 2002). However, while the three planes are lumped together they are each very different. Again, while the  F-22 is a well made craft, there are problems and much comes down to dollars and cents. A solution to budgetary concerns is to cut the current numbers of  F-22 Raptors in favor of boosting funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Of course, nothing is set in stone. However, the primary defense budget should be discussed before  going on to explore the fate of the Raptor. The military outlay is $371 billion (Leavitt, 2003, p.PG) but that does not include added expenses of the  continuing war in Afghanistan nor fighting the war in Iraq. Service personnel are expected to get pay increases of 2%-5.3%, dependent upon rank and length of service (2003). The  largest increase in the budget is 2.7%, and that would go to building ships (2003). Special forces would receive a 1.5% increase, and missile-defense programs and spending on unmanned  aerial vehicles would get increases as well (2003). Funding would continue for the three fighter-jet programs that had been vulnerable to cancellation which includes the Air Force F/A-22 Raptor  and the Joint Strike Fighter to the tune of $4.4 billion (2003, p.PG). Again, if a proposal to phase out the F-22 Raptor or at least reduce the production and  replace them with the F-35 is a good idea, how would it play politically? First, a look at the F-22 is in order. This stealth fighter had been 

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