Something that slipped my attention (but not Attackerman’s) last month was the big war about to brew when Obama is forced to start cutting the fat from bloated Defense contracts.   That’s why it’s been gratifying to find out that Robert Gates has the spine sufficient to stare down pork-seeking lawmakers of both parties as well as the industries that pay their campaign bills:

House Republicans and Democrats joined forces for two and a half hours to pummel the Pentagon’s chief weapon buyer for failing to spend $90 million on future F-22 jet fighters.

Undersecretary of Defense John Young was warned that the 2009 Defense Authorization Act “is not negotiable. You will obey what the bill says. That holds for the Pentagon and the secretary of defense,” scolded Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, during a hearing of the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee.

[...]

 Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his deputy, Gordon England, have argued for ending the program, saying the F-22 money is needed more urgently to buy weapons that are more likely to be used in today’s wars. Despite two wars, the F-22 has yet to be used in combat.

[...]

Although Young’s verbal thrashing was thorough, it wasn’t unanimous.

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., reminded fellow Armed Services Committee members that Congress cannot afford to buy everything the Pentagon wants. Lawmakers must choose between equipment for the type of warfare now being fought now in Iraq and Afghanistan and high-tech weapons for fighting high-tech enemies in the future.

Too often, such decisions are made by the party with the best lobbyists, Bartlett said.

Rep. Joseph Sestak, D-Pa., a retired admiral, called the F-22 a “Seawolf of the Sky.”

Like the F-22, the Seawolf was a weapon designed for the Cold War, but entered service after the Cold War ended. A dozen ships were planned, but the enormously costly Seawolf was canceled in 1995 after three ships were built.

With the end of the Cold War, the Air Force has searched for missions to make the F-22 relevant, Sestak said. The plane has gone from a dog fighter to a ground attack aircraft to a cruise missile chaser, he said.

Gingrey wrapped up the hearing saying he hopes Young “will strongly consider reversing” his decision on F-22 spending and spend the full $140 million Congress intended.

Young gave no indication that he will.

 That’s where things stood last month, and that’s close to where they stand now.  Lockheed’s trying one last gambit, which is to pretend that the F-22 could be used as a substitute for nuclear weapons, but it’s being openly mocked for this:

Thomas Christie, the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester for four years until February 2005 and a critic of what he has called the "super-expensive" F-22 program, dismissed Steven’s argument as "amazing."

"Grasping at straws," he said, adding, "The nerve."

Richard Aboulafia, an expert on warplanes at Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia aerospace consultancy. said the F-22′s stealth and precision "hardly rival the kind of fear you inspire from the threat of nuclear incineration."