GATES IS NO SCOOP JACKSON

And that's a good thing! Scoop Jackson was always in favor of more spending on expensive military hardware and earned the nickname "Senator from Boeing." This is particularly important when the Air Force wants a fighter that costs at least $160 million apiece.

Gates Says New Arms Must Play Role Now
By THOM SHANKER
Published: May 14, 2008
NY Times

COLORADO SPRINGS — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned the military and its contractors on Tuesday that expensive new conventional weapons must prove their value to current conflicts, marked by insurgency and terrorism, if they are to be included in further Pentagon budgets.

“I have noticed too much of a tendency towards what might be called next-war-itis — the propensity of much of the defense establishment to be in favor of what might be needed in a future conflict,” Mr. Gates told a conference here sponsored by the Heritage Foundation.

“Over all,” he added, “the kinds of capabilities we will most likely need in the years ahead will often resemble the kinds of capabilities we need today.”

Those comments are certain to alarm advocates of the newest generations of high-tech and high-cost weapons programs, in particular the Future Combat Systems program and the F-22, the Air Force’s advanced warplane. Both have come under scrutiny of Pentagon budget officers questioning whether either will be required for missions similar to the current operations in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Future Combat Systems, an Army initiative entailing a vast combat-gear overhaul whose total cost could exceed $200 billion, “must continue to demonstrate its value for the types of irregular challenges we will face,” as well as for the full-blown land warfare for which it was designed, Mr. Gates said.