Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been the chief opponent in Congress when it comes to the Air Force's attempt to aquire new aerial refueling aircraft. Now he may be taking aim at USAF's top-priority F/A-22 fighter. In an April 11 appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," McCain shook up USAF leaders with what sounded like the opening shot in a crusade against the F/A-22. McCain said the US will have to expand the size of the Army, and Marine Corps if it wants to achieve its objectives in Iraq. To pay for it, he said, "we may have to make some tough choices." He went on to say, "We may have to cancel this airplane that's going to cost between $250 million and $300 million a copy." The Senator did not identify the aircraft, but a McCain spokesperson confirmed he was referring to the F/A-22. The figure quoted by McCain includes money spent on research, development, and tooling- basically, the sunk cost. The Air Force says the per copy flyaway cost of each new aircraft, if the service buys 200 or more, is about $120 million. The price will be lower still if the service succeeds in obtaining further cost efficiencies in production.
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