Randall Cunningham: “Yes; it is. I thank the gentleman for yielding. One of the problems that we have is the O&M accounts, which is…”

“Yes; it is. I thank the gentleman for yielding. One of the problems that we have is the O&M accounts, which is operations and maintenance. I think the President and this administration and the House is trying to beef up that O&M account, knowing that there is that shortfall. But in many cases, our pilots are operating with their planes that are 15 through 20 years of age. It is like your car, the older that car gets, the more difficult it is to maintain. For example, the Navy and Marine Corps are only procuring 24 airplanes this year. It takes 360 to maintain current force level. You don't have to be a mathematical genius to figure out that you are going to turn into a pumpkin. and when you do that, how do you expand that force out, as you try and rework it, put the rewiring in, you upgrade it. But essentially, you take a 1950 Chevy, which in some cases are pretty good, by the way, the Chevies are, and expand them for some 20 to 30 years. But if your are driving that airplane every day, which we are in Somalia, we are wearing it out. We did in Desert Storm. We took a tremendous toll on the aircraft life and the service life not only aircraft but tanks and ships and everything else. And then in Somalia and then, if we get into Bosnia, which I do not support, we will tire those machines out. In the future, there is no procurement scheduled to buy new airplanes.”