The Engine No One Wants — Except Congress

The Government Is Spending $100 Million In Tax Dollars On A Jet Engine Deemed Unnecessary By The Military

(CBS)  The supersonic F-35 Lightning II is the military's next-generation strike fighter. It flies so fast that the speed is classified.

Pratt & Whitney has the government contract to make the jet's high-performance engine. But your tax dollars are also paying for GE to develop a spare engine — and it has cost you $1.6 billion so far.

The idea is that if GE and Pratt & Whitney compete, they'll build better engines that cost less and end up saving money. But here's where it really gets interesting: The military doesn't want the alternate engine. The Air Force and two independent panels have concluded it's "not necessary and not affordable" and that the supposed savings from competition "will never be achieved."

So why did Sen. Ted Kennedy personally earmark $100 million tax dollars for the project this year alone? He wouldn't agree to an interview, but part of the answer has to do with where it could be built: at GE's Massachusetts plant in Kennedy's home state — where it would bring jobs.

Kennedy is not the only one who wants to spend your tax money on the project. So does Congresswoman Jean Schmidt.

"The military says we don't want it. It's not going to save money in the long run. Why should taxpayers fund it?," asks CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

"History shows competition works; it drives down price, spurs innovation, builds a better product and saves money in the long term," says Rep. Schmidt, R-Ohio.

It doesn't hurt that the competing engine could also bring jobs to the GE plant in Schmidt's home state of Ohio.

Meantime, the military has been trying to kill the project altogether, saying the tax dollars would be better spent for force protection and IED-resistant vehicles.

"For two years in a row, the Air Force has asked Congress to take funding away from the program so they can devote it to other more urgent needs," says military analyst Christian Lowe of Military.com. "And every year Congress has come back and said 'Nope. You're going to do this alternate engine program.'"

The second engine is just one of many expensive add-ons to the defense budget.

Just this year, senators on the Armed Services Committee tacked on 309 extra projects worth $5.6 billion tax dollars — much of it for hometown contracts.

That includes the backup engine for the supersonic Lightning II, which remains on congressional life support — against the Air Force's own best advice.

[cmp271]

I think the Air Force should have the opportunity to vote in Congress. Perhaps the Wing or Base Commander from every base could participate in Congress when these issues come up?

Again, another example of Congress interfering where it doesn't need to be. The Air Force knows its stuff and should have the say in what is needed or not, especially if it costs taxpayers money!!

Sounds like the M.O.M interfering at Hogwarts!!! Next thing you know Congress will order the Air Force to fly Firebolts!! Or even Nimbus 2000's/2008's.

[mattcbsmatt]

WELL YOU NEWS THINGS DO NOT CONTROLL ALL THOUGHT.
WELL I WANT THAT Engine ME AND Congress, AND HOW ABOUT HYDROGEN H2 fuel cell Engines. :)

[rational_1]

Maybe Teddy boy is trying to push the air force, via this competition B.S., so that they'll develop an engine that can make a plane go faster than the speed of light. Then he'll be able to go back in time, prevent that little drowning debacle that tanked his presidential hopes and thus replace Hilary. Now that's the kind of logic a senator could be proud of!

[toolmangler-2009]

Mebbe Congress is hedging their bets with two engines in competition with each other. In that way the makers are being kept honest. mebbe....

[earthian-2009]

What I want to know is, will the GE Turbofans with vectored thrust made for the F-35 be superior or merely the same engine? If GE can make a similar engine that makes the plane faster, then it would be worth it. I recall the F-14 Tomcat always had problems with it's P&W TF-30 Turbofans, until they built them with GE engines, which suffered no compression stalls. I see no waste of money. I think it is odd that the F-35 Lightning II will be offered to foreign buyers, but the F-22A Raptor is not allowed to be sold to Allies.

[glidescube]

Well with these new jobs Teddy will create he can now employ all the illegal aliens he wishes give amnesty.

[dlafon1]

I wonder if anyone cares that our soldiers in Iraq right now have been living in 122+ heat because the generators are not working. Thankfully in one area the generators have been back on for three days. Where are our priorities!!!! Teddy you going to go hang with my son and his buds? Have you forgotten?

[gunownerdan]

I bet GE and other huge corporations don't have to pay the prostitutes in congress very much to pillage the country.

[mrhoppy-2009]

RE-ELECT NOBODY! Vote for anybody that is not an incumbent even if it is from another party.

[brianbwb-2009]

Well, the military doesn't want them, so who'll miss them if Bush sells them to China in exchange for some really good heroin, which he will then sell to the Crips, for the money to finish his Argentine ranch condo? (do you have any idea how expensive it is to hire the police to get the natives off your land there?)

[perimogi]

All you posting here do not have a clue. Ted Kennedy is actually going to have this engine put in SUVs so they can be more fuel efficient. They will do mach 7 and crash and never run again. He wins on global warming.

[tcoleman12]

Kennedy's ultimate plan is brilliant...He is going to line these engines up of the Cape, fire them up 24/7 and have them power the Wind Farm that needs to be installed there. That would show him as the true "Green" Senator that he is and where his loyalties lie.

[cbsreader4]

I have the beginnings of an answer to the whole nonsense of pork barrel spending like this. Congress (yeah, I know, our lame congress couldn't get outta bed without help) should enact a law that prohibits tacking on any appropriation to a bill that would directly affect one's own home state.

Of course, alliances would then be formed between the crooks to get things done and that would have to be addressed somehow but surely some person out there smarter than me could fashion an answer to that issue fairly quickly.

In the meantime, perhaps maybe the airforce should stop fighting against the flow and start taking advantage of it. Heck, I bet they could get ol' Teddy to divvy up a few million of them $400 toilet seats while he's at it, if they asked.

[effallah]

Problem with the article is that the sole purpose of the military isn't just to fight wars. It's also to develop technologies. Without military backing, we wouldn't have computers or the Internet. From a pure cost-benefit standpoint, militarily, the engine might not make sense. When you factor in the societal benefits, it probably does.

[willylou11]

newster1=neurotic, frigid, middle aged cave dweller. If this anti-american toddler had their way, we'd all be banging rocks together and chewing on sticks. So, I implore all of you, having seen some of newsters previous posts, do yourself a favor and pay no attention to them, they have absolutely nothing intelligent to say.

[roach9703]

We have to stop playing games with military procurement. Ted Kennedy has some questions to answer!

[minminmin-2009]

Make the AF drive Priuses and just throw the bombs out the window.

Kennedy, the poster child for term limits. You might have guessed

[ov442]

I love these republican scumbags that post on here talking only about Kennedy's involvment, when the same article also specifies clearly....

Congresswoman Jean Schmidt R-Ohio. "It doesn't hurt that the competing engine could also bring jobs to the GE plant in Schmidt's home state of Ohio."

....Is pushing it the same as Kennedy is.

Typical GOP supporters. Ignore when your crony commits immoral or criminal acts and try to blame a democrat for all of it, when the evidence is contrary.

The true issue here is that all of Congress does the same thing. They act like its their job to go to DC and lobby their peers and the president for earmarks for their states.

Why dont they just pass legislation that effectively sets all requests for tax dollars' use to follow specific criteria to be agreed upon by a bipartisan committee of only 4 senators (2 of each party). Require the criteria to include benefit to the nation as a whole not just 1 state, and it to be proposed to either solve a problem or be of a need of some sort.
Right now they may as well just take an agreed upon amount of cash and divvy it up as they see fit. taht would make it more fair than it is now. But following my suggestion would reduce our tax requirements.

[boston1954]

Kennedy!!! I fired him and he still won't go away.

[timincal]

Heck, I always thought Sen. Byrd from West Virgina was the most corrupt Democrat in Congress.Always thought Lott from Mississippi was the most corrupt Republican but now were finding out he was ina contest with Sen. Stevens from Alaska for the most crooked.
I must have some pretty lousy Senators in my state of Indiana. Neither Sen. Lugar(R) or Sen. Bayh(D) have been accused of anything shady that I know of.

[quatermass2]

Gasp! Congressional influence in defense procurement?!?! I'm shocked, SHOCKED! Hell, if you want to go kill some program, try the C-17, or the C-130J, or the C-130 AMP (THERE'S a cost-over-running, years-behind stinker of a pork program for you). This is peanuts.

[missingamerica]

Hmmm...a stamp of approval from an Ohio Republican is not necessarily a good thing these days. Some of them get paid in rare coins...