The top two U.S Air Force leaders lobbied Capitol Hill for their service Oct. 24, suggesting lawmakers help extend the F-22 Raptor production line with 20 more of the Lockheed Martin fighters than currently budgeted.

Seeking to bolster the Air Force as lawmakers hammer out fiscal 2008 defense legislation and the Bush administration mulls its FY '09 request, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, further indicated their desire for more Boeing C-17s, retirement of Lockheed C-5As and for the service's ability to take over the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program from the Army.

Wynne and Moseley told the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) that they do not want any ongoing production lines to close, and in fact they hope to increase the number of F-22s until the Lockheed-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is well into production. They acknowledged their proposal was deemed unfeasible by the Office of Secretary of Defense, which apparently said it could "break the bank."

Alluding to concerns with slower rollout of the two fighters under current plans, Wynne noted that Air Combat Command's requirement for 381 F-22s is unchanged despite plans for only 183 now. Meanwhile, requirements for 1,763 JSFs would be met only incrementally until 2025.

Additional F-22s sooner would lower the requirement gap, expedite a "working" F-35 line and help the Air Force fill out Raptor squadrons in or near areas of concern, Wynne argued.

Similarly, the leaders reiterated support for the so-called 30-30 proposal, in which the Air Force would retire about 30 of its worst C-5As and buy roughly the same number of C-17s over decades.

Speaking diplomatically to the panel, which includes C-5 Galaxy supporters, Wynne said stopping and later restarting the C-17 line could cost "tens of billions" of dollars. Meantime, C-5 upgrades - whose re-engining element is at the center of a Nunn-McCurdy cost breach dispute - would require $17.8 billion essentially to provide additional operational capability equaling 10 more Galaxies, according to the Air Force.

Finally, Wynne and Moseley defended a Senate move to bring the L-3 Communications-led JCA under Air Force leadership. Moseley said intra-theater tactical airlift is a legacy Air Force capability, and Wynne said the Senate Armed Services Committee provision stems from Army recalcitrance with C-23 Sherpas.

"They remember when the Army refused to take the Sherpas and they had to write language," Wynne told House members concerning senators' intention (DAILY, June 4).

The Army claims that turning JCA into a single acquisition and operation platform under the Air Force would mean significant cost increases and delays (DAILY, Oct. 19).

The Air Force officials' messages were mostly well received, though Democratic leaders chided the two men for not providing a strategic review of their requirements and focusing on budget issues. They also lamented what has become an annual cycle of defense officials supporting the Bush administration's official requests in testimony each February, only to be followed with pleas like Wynne's and Moseley's each fall.