Letter to the Editor: Fewer plane orders puts the U.S. economy in a more precarious position in the world

"Sequestration" is not the term that I consider to be the best to describe what President Obama is trying to do to our nation, but as we are seeing, he plans to do whatever he wants to do! His budget request for 2013 was to retire 300 airplanes while buying 54 new ones. The deletion is after retiring 700 more airplanes than it purchased. At the founding of the U.S. Air Force in 1947, we had 12,300 planes we have 5,200 today. The last time the U.S. bought so few aircraft was 1915 for the aviation section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, an Air Force predecessor.

Russian and Chinese aircraft flown by Indian pilots in exercises have already bested our best fighter aircraft!

If the current intentions of Russia or China continue to escalate we will be in a precarious situation!

Over the past four years, the Obama administration terminated or delayed seven aircraft production lines, including the F-22 fighter jet, the C-17 transport plane and a new bomber.

The defense industry could lose nearly 2 million direct and indirect jobs. Our Air Forces can't continue down this path!

Gerald W. Ray

Spokane