John McCain

I have yet to meet, General, an Army commander with responsibility for troops on the ground that believes that a B-1 or an F-16 replace the capability of the A-10.

You will not pursue the elimination of the finest CAS weapon system in the world with answers like that.

Because any such divestitures would be subject to congressional approval, the Commission recommends that the Air Force develop and provide Congress a detailed, complete, and comprehensive plan.

What people like me need to do is make sure that the innovations that our depots show routinely, the workforce we have there, feels valued, proud, and respected.

We are now looking at the first trillion dollars weapons system in history and we're talking about replacing a very inexpensive A-10 with the most expensive weapon system in history.

People like you came to Congress and gave us information that turned out to be totally incorrect.

There's a lot of things we could have done for the last 10 to 15 years as well, General, and we didn't.

You're saying that none of the competitors are capable of the heavier launch? Is that what you're saying?

I'm also interested in a breakdown of the savings estimates and in what specific areas the Air Force achieved or is expecting savings.

There are already people who have proven with launches that they can do it efficiently and at lower cost.

You're cutting in half the number of launches that are subject to competition, Madam Secretary. Why would you want to do that?

Let me get this straight. It saved you $4 billion, but the GAO says it has experienced the most cost growth within the entire defense acquisition portfolio.

How do you say that competition is the key to reducing these costs and yet cut in half the number of launches?

I don't need to be told by an Air Force general about cost savings and what we need to defend this Nation.

The Air Force ignored the fundamental principal of fly-before-you-buy and this program has turned into a national and defense scandal.

It's somewhat amusing to hear you defend the F-35 again, the first trillion dollar weapons system in history, plagued by incredible inefficiency and waste, and is a shocking story of the really serious problems we have with acquisition in…

I continue to be puzzled and deeply disappointed that colleagues on both sides of the aisle don't realize the danger that we're putting our national security in.

In the 40 years since Vietnam, we have a perfect record in predicting where we will use military force next.

This really is the difference between your confidence in maintaining the security of this Nation.

I'm hearing from a lot of very bright and talented young officers in all Services that this kind of lifestyle, where operations are cancelled, where deployments, they don't know from one day to the next, the degree of readiness and…

One, I would be very curious how that affects your capability to plan; and two, what will the further impact of sequestration be on the U.S. Army, in your view?

But a lot of those units are not combat operationally ready?

Now, basically, what you're saying is that we are headed towards a hollow Army.

So my opinion is we want to have a balanced joint force, which requires also the capability to deploy land forces.

One would argue that it's not prudent to continue to reduce our defense capabilities. Wouldn't that make sense?