MARITIME MATTERS

摘要

The Navy and Marine Corps have made it clear to lawmakers that - if money were no object -they would prioritize funding for advanced fighter jets over just about anything else. In their annual budgetary wish lists sent to lawmakers in late March, the two services detailed nearly $5 billion in needed items that did not make their budget cut. Of those wished-for dollars, more than $3 billion would be spent on F/A-18F Super Hornets and F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighters. Specifically, the Navy said it would like $1.2 billion to buy 12 additional Super Hornets, stressing that the shortfall in the service's current strike fighter fleet is "barely manageable."