Washington, DC - "The F-18 and C-17 programs are vital to keeping America safe and making certain that our armed services have the tools that they need to respond to any national security threat. In St. Louis, Boeing accounts for 16,000 jobs, many of them in my district. So along with my colleagues, Senator McCaskill, Senator Bond, Congressman Carnahan and Congressman Aiken, we are mounting a massive bipartisan effort to save these programs and to ensure the job security of Boeing workers.I agree with Secretary Gates that there are many programs left over from the Cold War that need to be cancelled, like the F-22.They cost too much and they no longer have a legitimate defense mission. But the C-17 and the F-18 programs are among the most efficient and most reliable aircraft that we have. The C-17, which is the backbone of our military airlift capacity, is essential to the missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to our continuing efforts to respond to unconventional threats all over the world.
I also support two options listed in a recent report on Strategic Airlift Modernization compiled by the Congressional Research Service which includes replacing all current C-5A models with new Boeing C-17s, or replacing up to 30 C-5s with 30 C-17s.And given the huge problems that Lockheed is having with the Joint Strike Fighter program, which is way over budget, and badly behind schedule…the F-18 is looking better every day.”