Well, Marine Corps Gen. James "Hoss" Cartwright, the nation's second highest military officer fired a shot at the Air Force's renewed effort to field a stealthy, long-range nuclear bomber early in the next decade, saying we just can't afford it.
Here's what he said today to DoDBuzz's founding editor, Colin Clark, who now runs AOL Defense:
"I'm known as a bomber hater," a smiling Cartwright said this morning when I asked him whether the country needed such a plane. The general's main worry is that we will build an "exquisite" aircraft, loaded with the latest stealth, able to fly huge distances and crammed with expensive sensors and end up being able to buy only a few of them. He noted the progression of bomber production numbers: 100s of the venerable B-52; 65 B-1s; and 20 B-2s."Building five or 10 of something isn't going to do something for us," he said, adding that he wants to think of an aircraft of which we could build "hundreds."
He went on to tell Clark that he thinks a cheaper, unmanned bomber (that wouldn't carry nukes, for obvious reasons) is the way to go. He apparently said that he didn't remember any manned version of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). There you have it, the outgoing vice chairman of the joint chiefs sounding off against building a new version of the Air Force nuke triad. Oh, and he also confirmed that the Pentagon is considering getting rid of an aircraft carrier.
The country, Marine Gen. James "Hoss" Cartwright said, cannot afford to buy an upgraded nuclear triad of new bombers, new intercontinental ballistic missiles and new nuclear missile submarines.Cartwright, outgoing vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, also confirmed that the Pentagon is considering -- as part of its budget deliberations -- scrapping its next aircraft carrier, the first official confirmation by a senior military official. Cartwright spoke with reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast here.
