Akin makes unsuccessful attempt to tie F-35 funding to setting fighter’s operational date

Akin’s amendment called for the Pentagon to provide an “initial
operational capability date” by March 2013, or 50 percent of the procurement funds
for the F-35 fighter would be fenced off.

Akin knew he was in for an uphill battle, prefacing his
amendment by saying it’s the one members were told they were “supposed to vote
against.”

{mosads}He said that the $1.5 trillion project, the largest Pentagon
weapons program in history, risked too much waste “if we don’t crack the whip.”

“The project should give us pause,” Akin said.

In offering his substitute, Smith said that threatening to
take away funding for the F-35 sent the wrong signal to foreign partners on the
F-35 program, many of whom have threatened to pull out as problems with the
design have persisted.

If foreign countries left the F-35 program it could drive up
costs even further, Smith said.

Smith’s amendment called for the Pentagon to provide an IOC
date by Dec. 31, 2012, but it did not lay out any punishment if the Pentagon
did not do so.

Akin said he didn’t think Smith’s amendment “would do
anything at all.”

The Smith amendment passed on a voice vote, and it sounded
like only Akin voiced a “no” vote.