Big weapons are on Robert Gates’ hit list

WASHINGTON — The nation should stop pouring billions into futuristic, super-expensive F-22 jet fighters, pull the plug on new presidential helicopters and put the money into systems U.S. soldiers can use, Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared Monday.

Major overhaul plans laid out by the Obama administration’s Pentagon chief would slash several giant weapons programs, and thousands of civilian jobs that go with them. With recession unemployment rising, Congress may balk at many of the cuts in Gates’ proposed $534 billion budget for the coming year.

Gates said he is gearing Pentagon buying plans to the smaller, lower-tech battlefields the military is facing now and expects in coming years. The Pentagon, he said, wants to move away from both outdated weapons systems conceived in the Cold War and programs aimed at super sophisticated foes.

Gates said he would expand spending on equipment that targets insurgents, such as $2 billion more on surveillance and reconnaissance equipment. That would include funding for 50 new Predator drones such as those that have rained down missiles on militants hiding along the Afghanistan- Pakistan border.

Gates said the Pentagon won’t continue the F-22 program beyond 187 planes already planned, at $140 million apiece. Gates also said no to a new fleet of Marine One presidential helicopters — with a price tag of $13 billion.

A $160 billion Army system of combat vehicles, flying sensors and bomb-hunting robots would be reduced, too, as would plans to build a shield of missile interceptors to defend against attacks by rogue countries. The Navy would revamp plans to buy new destroyers.

Gates proposed speeding up production of the F-35 fighter jet. That program could end up costing $1 trillion to manufacture and maintain 2,443 planes. The military would buy more speedy ships that can operate close in to land. And more money would be spent outfitting special forces troops who can hunt down insurgents.