Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss and U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey on Wednesday called the Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program critical to the nation’s defense, despite deficit worries that could reduce military spending.
The two Republican leaders, visiting Marietta to take a spin in the plane’s flight simulator at the city's Lockheed plant, said with the F-22 program winding down, the F-35 is expected to pick up the slack and needs to be funded to continue America's air dominance.
"Even in these very difficult budget times, we've got to continue down the road of making sure that we are providing our men and women in every branch of the service with the best technology and best weapons system available," Chambliss said.
Gingrey agreed. "Your F-35 and your F-22 are complimentary. It's not either-or. You need both," he said.
Lockheed's Marietta plant is producing the center wing or “heart” of the F-35. The center wing is 8 feet tall, 13 feet long and 19 feet wide at its widest point and weighs between 2,100 and 2,900 pounds, depending on the model.
The work has created about 300 jobs, but that number could increase to about 1,000 at peak production, which is expected to come in 2015, Lockheed officials said. Economic impact to the area is estimated to be about $165 million.
The work comes as Lockheed, which has plants around the country, announced in July it planned to eliminate about 1,500 salaried aeronautic employees, though it did not know how many of the losses would come from the Marietta site. The company said it was trying to cut costs to make it more competitive.
The F-35's fate could be affected by Congressional budget negotiations, a result of the combative deal struck last month to raise the nation's debt ceiling. A 12-member Congressional "super committee" of Democrats and Republicans is expected to find ways to cut $1.5 trillion from the national deficit by Thanksgiving or face automatic triggers that could affect defense.
Chambliss said he expects that the 2,400-plus jets ordered will avoid the chopping block, but is aware that the same was said of the F-22, which eventually saw its planned numbers reduced. He said the Pentagon made that decision because the F-35 was coming online and it did not need as many F-22's. Chambliss did not agree.
"I don't think you're going to see Phil on the House side, me on the Senate side, any of our colleagues on either side of the Capitol make that kind of decision," he said of reducing the F-35 order size. "I can't envision that anybody in the Pentagon is going to do that. We have a lot old airplanes that we are flying now, particularly tactical airplanes, and those airplanes are wearing out."
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