Statement of Robert F. Hale Assistant Director for National Security Division Congressional Budget Office, 28 Apr 1993

摘要

I appreciate the opportunity to testify today regarding the capability and long term costs of tactical aircraft in the Air Force and the Navy. The Clinton Administration will not submit its long-term plan for tactical aircraft and other defense forces until later this year or early next year. Nevertheless, the Administration's 1994 budget request earmarks $4 billion for developing four tactical aircraft, which are the focus of this testimony. The issue is whether funds will be available when these planes are ready to be procured in the late 1990s and beyond. Last year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that, given the plans of the Bush Administration, the four aircraft programs would be affordable only under optimistic assumptions about unit costs and the size of future budgets. Press reports suggest, however, that the services--and particularly the Navy--are considering sharp reductions in forces and modernization programs. These changes would make the four aircraft programs affordable under more plausible assumptions. It is too soon to conclude, however, that problems of affordability are a thing of the past. Difficulties may remain depending on final decisions about aircraft programs and other forces, particularly those of the Navy. Budget cuts beyond those proposed by the Clinton Administration, even if made later this decade, would also darken the outlook for affordability.