Anyone hear about these "losses" ..?? I e-mailed the author asking for clarification.

UPDATE 1-Democrats cut four C-130 planes from U.S. war bill
Wed Jun 3, 2009 4:10pm EDT
(adds details, background.)

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) - U.S. congressional Democrats have pared a war funding bill to buy seven Lockheed Martin (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) C-130 military transport aircraft from the 11 that the U.S. House of Representatives initially approved, a congressional source close to the matter said on Wednesday.

The Democrats agreed to keep in the eight Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) C-17 military transport planes previously approved, the source said, declining further identification because the decisions have not been officially made public.

The House had approved $3.1 billion for all the military transports as part of the legislation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other purposes. The Senate declined to include any of that money but some senators had expressed support for the C-17s.

Differences between the House and Senate measures must be worked out before a single bill can be sent to President Barack Obama for his signature. Lawmakers from both chambers, which are controlled by Democrats, are set to meet on Thursday afternoon to complete that work.

The Pentagon had not requested any of the transport aircraft but did seek to replace four Lockheed F-22 fighter jets that were lost in combat. The source said that those aircraft were also preserved in the compromise package. (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Patricia Zengerle)

The air force is upgrading. They lost some F15 and F16's.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroo.../04/an-off-the-book/

Danger Room What’s Next in National Security
Obama Asks for Stealth Jets in Iraq, Astan Budget (Updated)

* By Nathan Hodge Email Author
* April 10, 2009 |
* 11:41 am |
* Categories: Af/Pak, Iraq, Paper Pushers, Beltway Bandits, Politicians

081101f7906c933

Today the Obama administration unveiled what it promised would be the last "emergency," "supplemental" spending bill to cover the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, oddly, that $83.4 billion request contained money for items that everyone in the Pentagon agrees has nothing to do with the wars we’re in.

The supplemental, for instance, would buy the Air Force four additional F-22 Raptor stealth fighters "to replace four fighter aircraft lost in the theater of operations" — three F-16s and one F-15. In other words, upgrade! No F-22 has ever seen combat, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already stated that the F-22 his all-but-useless for the war on terror. But that doesn’t mean you can’t buy a few extra Raptors for the Air Force, apparently. The extra four airframes would round out the F-22 buy at 187 aircraft.

This might make China pause for a sec before invading Taiwan.

During Exercise Northern Edge in Alaska in June 2006, 12 F-22s of the 94th FS downed 108 adversaries with no losses in simulated combat exercises.[9] In two weeks of exercises, the Raptor-led Blue Force amassed 241 kills against two losses in air-to-air combat, and neither Blue Force loss was an F-22.

Maybe you can't take out a gun position with an F-22, but you can probably take out a hundred Chinese Migs before you lose an F-22.

Additionally, cutting back on C-130's is simply stupid. They're a tactical aircraft that will do things the C-17 will not do, and they will be operated in areas where the generals won't expose a C-17 for fear of losing the expensive big bird. Cutting back on C-130's in favor of C-17's is simply penny wise and pound foolish. Stupid.

quote:

Maybe you can't take out a gun position with an F-22

Apparently they can do any A2G that the F35 can do as well as A2A Superiority.

Cutting any of these programs is stupid given the age and obsolescence of the current inventory.