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from:
http://www.democrats.org/specialreports/cheney_record/
As Pentagon chief from 1989 to 1993, Cheney canceled or cut back many of the
same weapons programs -- bombers, fighter planes, tanks -- that he says Kerry
tried to deprive the armed forces of.
Cheney Proposed Cutting F-16 Aircraft. In testimony before the House Armed
Services Committee, Cheney said, "If you're going to have a smaller air force,
you don't need as many F-16s...The F-16D we basically
continue to buy and close it out because we're not going to have as big a
force structure and we won't need as many F-16s." According to the Boston
Globe, Bush's 1991 defense budget "kill[ed] 81 programs for potential
savings of $ 11.9 billion...Major weapons killed include[d]....the Air Force's
F-16 airplane." [Cheney testimony, House Armed Services Committee, 2/7/91;
Boston Globe, 2/5/91]
Cheney Proposed Cuts to B-2 Program. According to the Boston Globe, in 1990,
"Defense Secretary Richard Cheney announced a cutback... of nearly 45 percent
in the administration's B-2 Stealth bomber program, from 132 airplanes to 75..."
[Boston Globe, 4/27/90]
Cheney Proposed Cutting AH-64 Apaches. In testimony before the Senate
Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, Cheney said, "This is
just a list of some of the programs that I've recommended termination:
the V-22 Osprey, the F-14D, the Army Helicopter Improvement Program,
Phoenix missile, F-15E, the Apache helicopter, the M1 tank, et cetera."
In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Cheney said,
"The Army, as I indicated in my earlier testimony, recommended to me that we
keep a robust Apache helicopter program going forward, AH-64...I forced the
Army to make choices...So I recommended that we cancel the AH-64
program two years out." [Cheney testimony, Senate Appropriations Committee,
Defense Subcommittee, 6/12/90; Cheney Testimony, House Armed Services
Committee, 7/13/89, emphasis added]
Cheney Proposed Cutting M-1 Abrams Tanks. In testimony before the Senate
Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, Cheney said, "This is just
a list of some of the programs that I've recommended termination: the V-22
Osprey, the F-14D, the Army Helicopter Improvement Program, Phoenix missile,
F-15E, the Apache helicopter, the M1 tank, et cetera." The Boston Globe
reported on the impact of Cheney's cuts to armored tanks: "The Army's cupboard
is left particularly bare. Coming in the wake of last year's killing of the M-1
tank and the Apache helicopter, the death of the M-2 means the Army will soon
have virtually no major weapons in production." [Cheney testimony, Senate
Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, 6/12/90; Boston Globe, 2/5/91]
Cheney Proposed Cutting B-52 Bombers. In 1990, Cheney proposed cutting 14
B-52 bombers. Cheney also sought the retirement of two Navy battleships,
two nuclear cruisers, and eight nuclear-powered attack submarines. In 1991,
Cheney scrapped the Navy's A-12 Stealth attack plane, a fighter that was
proclaimed to be a key part of the future of navy aviation in advanced
stealth technology. [Newsday, 2/5/91; NY Times, 1/8/91; Boston Globe, 4/27/90;
Boston Globe, 1/30/90]
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