U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates might still recommend the president veto the 2010 military appropriations bill if he determines any funds for a second F-35 engine would "disrupt" the fighter effort, chief Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Oct. 28.
The Obama administration had threatened for months to veto any 2010 defense authorization or spending legislation that contained funds for the alternative F-35 engine, which the Pentagon has been trying to nix for several years.
But as Morrell pointed out to a handful of reporters after Obama had signed the defense authorization into law, the administration had not issued a black-and-white veto threat over the issue. In a nuanced July 15 statement of administration policy, the White House wrote of congressional authorizers' intention to fund the second engine effort: "If the final bill presented to the president would seriously disrupt the F-35 program, the president's senior advisors would recommend a veto."
Gates and senior defense officials, Morrell said, concluded the authorizers had found a way to keep alive the F-136 power plant program - being built by General Electric and Rolls-Royce - without disrupting the F-35 program.
Gates in April announced plans to buy more of the Lockheed Martin-made fighters, and on a faster schedule.
It appears almost certain that the 2010 defense appropriations bill Congress will soon send to Obama also will contain funding for the GE-Rolls F-136. What is not yet public is from where those monies would come, and how the appropriators' F-136 plans would affect the broader fighter program.
If senior Pentagon officials determine the appropriations plans would adversely impact the F-35 program, Gates would recommend Obama veto the defense spending bill, Morrell said.
Meantime, Morrell told reporters Gates and his top budget advisors are mulling how the department should move forward with the second engine as they continue work on the military's 2011 spending blueprint.
The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is ready to test a few components that soldiers may have in their hands by 2010.
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