The White House is angry with Congress' move to insert money for more F-22s into the 2010 defense budget. SENIOR AIRMAN GARRETT HOTHAN / AIR FORCE From Newsweek:
Now that congress has killed the F-22, the Air Force is facing another shock to the system: planes without pilots.
For more than 60 years, the Air Force has trumpeted itself as the service of glamour, its pilots ruling the skies, soaring, diving, bombing, and strafing from far above—yet still commanding the clash of armies on the ground. In movies, they wore white scarves and set the girls' hearts aflutter.
But all that is changing in ways that few outsiders understand. A fierce fight is on for the mission, culture, and identity of the Air Force, and the Top Guns are losing. This is the real story behind a passionate political struggle this past summer over a major weapons system, the F-22 Raptor, the world's most sophisticated fighter plane.
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Update: The Demise of the F-22 Raptor: The Story Behind the Story -- The Moderate Voice
My Comment: This is a fascinating read. Somehow I missed this story last week, but here it is. The Moderate Voice's post is also a must read.