Cunningham helped Hunter push for locally made jet (or, Duncan in deep doo-doo?)

[babylonsister]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070616-9999-1n16dupont.html

Cunningham helped Hunter push for locally made jet


Congress reviewing funding for plane Pentagon rejected
By Dean Calbreath
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

June 16, 2007

Four months after Randy “Duke” Cunningham entered Congress in 1991, he joined with Rep. Duncan Hunter to urge the Pentagon to buy an aircraft that became the focus of a congressional investigation this week.

The DP-2 Vectored Thrust Aircraft, developed by duPont Aerospace in La Jolla, received $63 million in congressional funding despite repeated Pentagon studies that criticized the vehicle as being unsafe and unworkable.

After 20 years of testing, the aircraft has never flown and has never received a positive review from the military, prompting an investigation by the House Science and Technology Committee.

Funding for the aircraft was spearheaded by Hunter, R-Alpine, and former Rep. Christopher Cox, who now leads the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 1990, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, issued a scathing report on the DP-2. DARPA found that the jet had poor stability and serious safety issues. Among other things, the jet's engines created dust storms that could erode visibility; its long-range fueling system was “unadvisable”; and its stealth capabilities – which Hunter cited as a major reason for supporting the project – made it only “marginally more survivable” than other aircraft.

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[SoCalDem]

1. Duncan Hunter & Jerry Lewis are dirty dirty dirty

I hope they go down down down :)

[babylonsister]

2. Me, too! And I'll enjoy watching it! nt

[Immad2]

3. Me Three! I will be jumping for joy!

Hopefully they take Pombo, Dolittle and Drier with them!

[Major Hogwash]

4. They have wasted billions and billions of dollars on military boondoggles

And yet they claim to be "fiscal" conservatives.

I have no idea what the standard they use to describe "fiscal" conservatives in California where they come from, but there is no excuse for this going on for decades and decades.

They may have sunny beaches in Southern California, but they also have some of the most hawkish military representatives that you've ever seen. They've never seen a military project that they didn't like, as long as it was located in beautiful Southern California.

They have a lot of sonsabeeches in Southern California, too.

[Joanie Baloney]

6. Need a mint?

You sound a little bitter, Major. :(

Boot camp in San Diego was a bitch, wasn't it?

JB

[Rex]

5. Government crooks love it when the 'authorities' open the vault door for them.

Stupid people should NEVER be in charge of the federal government.

Greed should be another ban from office.