The Pentagon's Shopping List

By Patrick Appel
Gates has an article in the new issue of Foreign Affairs. FP wonks Fred Kaplan , Judah Grunstein, and Nathan Hodge analyze it. Here's Hodge:

In this latest article -- mostly, a repackaged version of this speech to National Defense University -- Gates seems to be taking aim at the F-22 again. "The Defense Department has to consider whether in situations in which the United States has total air dominance, it makes sense to employ lower-cost, lower-tech aircraft that can be employed in large quantities and used by U.S. partners," he writes. That sounds like a plug for the smaller, cheaper (and internationally procured) F-35. As Axe noted here earlier this week, with Gates in line to lead the Pentagon under President Barack Obama, the F-22's future is starting to look less than bright.

Graph from America's Defense Meltdown.