Dornan Warns About ‘Knee-Jerk’ B-2 Slashes

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), one of the most conservative members of the House Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday warned the Bush Administration against making a “knee-jerk” decision to slash the size of the proposed fleet of B-2 bombers.

“We don’t know what the world will look like next month, much less next year,” said the seven-term congressman, who once earned the nickname “B-1 Bob” because of his vigorous support for an earlier strategic bomber.

The Times reported Wednesday that President Bush has decided to limit production of the B-2 to 20 bombers, instead of the 75 that the Air Force had wanted to buy from Northrop Corp. The move would save an estimated $25 billion.

Ending production after 20 planes would make the aircraft by far the most expensive ever built, driving the cost of each plane to more than $2 billion.

The mission for which the B-2 was designed--penetration of Soviet airspace to deliver nuclear weapons--now appears to be unnecessary, an Administration official told The Times.

Dornan, however, said that “during a time of decreasing defense dollars, the B-2 is just the type of aircraft we need. . . . The B-2 represents the most modern and up-to-date stealth (radar-evading) technology, and it will also be very successful in applying its strategic technology to conventional (non-nuclear) missions.”

Dornan added: “Our goal should be a military that is capable of meeting any existing or potential threat, not arbitrary budget targets based on knee-jerk reactions.”

In addition, Dornan said, any savings realized from cuts in the defense budget should be either returned to taxpayers or used to reduce the massive federal deficit, rather than to pay for domestic projects.

“Last year’s budget package erected a fire wall between defense spending and domestic programs, and I don’t want to see that fire wall hacked down to fund some House chairman’s or senator’s pet project,” he said.