Dan Coats: “let me try to wrap up quickly in 2 minutes here for those Senators who are listening. The Senator from Wisconsin says…”

“let me try to wrap up quickly in 2 minutes here for those Senators who are listening. The Senator from Wisconsin says that essentially makes the argument that a decision has to be made now regarding the future of tactical air purchases that will provide air defense security for the United States for 15 to 20 years in the future. He said we need a recommendation. He said we need a recommendation now as to what that decision ought to be. He says we are trying to have it all. Those arguments are based on the situation as it existed before the Quadrennial Defense Review. The QDR was reported and the Secretary of Defense, former Senator Cohen, certified that changes needed to be made along the lines of what the Senator was stating, except instead of saying ``cancel one,'' the Secretary said we need to dramatically reduce the amount. The threat isn't such that we need the same amount as we formerly had. That is going to save a very significant amount of money. But a balanced approach allows us to address the needs of Marine tactical air, Navy tactical air and Air Force tactical air. If you go forward and cancel one of those, one of those services is going to be left naked, without adequate tactical air. So the balanced approach that dramatically reduces the number of F-18's, the number of F-22's, and the joint strike fighter number, is the approach they want to take. Second, the final decision hasn't been made. The QDR report is 4 years.”