Members of Congress
Appropriations Conference Committee
Washington DC
September 17, 1999
Dear Member of Congress:
The Project On Government Oversight wants to congratulate the House in its efforts to protect both U.S. troops and taxpayers' dollars. By retaining the $1.2 billion for further research and development of the F-22 Raptor, and by withdrawing the $1.8 billion that had been earmarked for procurement of six more of these planes, you are helping to ensure that the F-22 will not go into full production prematurely.
It goes against common sense and commercial best practices to put the F-22 into production based on only 4 percent of the plane's flight-test program as was done last year. There are countless defense programs, the B-1B bomber and the Sergeant York air defense gun for example, that have had major problems brought to light as a result of insufficient early testing. To do less with the extraordinarily complex F-22 would be irresponsible. (For more information regarding the lack of testing, see the attached document.)
While a delay in procurement will not necessarily kill the F-22, in contrast to what the defense contractors are insisting, the early and untested use of it will, in all likelihood, kill soldiers. We strongly urge the Conference to stick with the House's decision to cut the FY 2000 funding for procurement.
Sincerely,
Danielle Brian
Executive Director
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