Greg Ganske: “let us look at the cold hard facts. The budget resolution conference report contains significantly less money for…”

“let us look at the cold hard facts. The budget resolution conference report contains significantly less money for defense than the House Defense authorization bill that was passed earlier. The House appropriations ceiling for defense has since been adjusted accordingly. The result is that the B-2 is now even less affordable. Simply put, the enormous outyear ``tail'' of the B-2 was not budgeted to begin with, and now there is even less money than was believed available at the time of the B-2 authorization vote. The fiscal arguments against the B-2 are now stronger than ever. The results of the heavy bomber industrial capabilities study have been released. It contradicts assertions that new B-2's are needed to keep a bomber industrial base alive. The study states that, first, there is no distinct bomber industry and that bomber production efficiently shifts between prime contractors over the years, and second, a restart of the production line, if necessary, would not be costly nor present any technical difficulty. Finally, the General Accounting Office has completed a report on the current status of the B-2 cost, development, and production efforts which is highly critical of the program. The report states the aircraft has not passed most of its basic tests, is not as ``stealthy'' as advertised, and its new, next- generation terrain following/terrain avoidance radar cannot distinguish the difference between a rain cloud and a mountain.”