The continuing debate regarding the merits of an extra engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter surrounds a prime example of the waste that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is trying to eliminate. Support for an extra engine is another case of parochial interests trying to trump efficiency and military readiness. The F-35 second engine was not included in the Defense Department plan during or before my tenure as deputy secretary. Every military service vice chief testified with me to Congress that the second engine was too costly and not needed-or wanted. Regardless, each year funding was still added by Congress, generally in response to constituent pressure and usually in negotiations between House and Senate committees. That's the way the system often works, but don't now try to justify a second engine based on cost savings through competition, because that is not the case. Rather, another engine will be costly and result in numerous operational and support inefficiencies.
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