"The F-35 is at root the core of our combat tactical aircraft in the future.... My view is we cannot afford, as a nation, not to have this airplane."-Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, touring Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Tex., Aug. 31.rn"Rather than buying both new long-range bombers and thousands of short-range F-35 fighters, DOD might consider whether the new bombers-given their much larger payload capacity-could represent a cost-effective substitute for some number of these new fighters."
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