Defense Secretary Robert Gates is reaffirming the Pentagon's opposition to buying additional F-22A aircraft and to funding the alternative engine program for the Joint Strike Fighter, telling Congress that the two issues would serve as grounds to veto the conference version of the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill. The threat is included in a three-page letter received Sept. 21 by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO). Unofficially known as a "heartburn appeal," the document lays out the...
