The history of the military reform caucus is deeply relevant to this debate.
Lind got Spinney’s briefing presented to Congressional members and staff in December 1980. Lind also gave the movement its name, “the Reformers,” which was used publicly by Hart in a Wall Street Journal column in January 1981. That summer, Hart organized the Congressional Military Reform Caucus and soon had 45 members. Among those most receptive to the message were Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Rep. Richard Cheney (R-Wyo.).
“The Reformers who focused on money saw the F-15 as too expensive at $20 million, seven times the cost of an F-4 and 20 times the cost of an F-5,” said Clarence R. Anderegg, a veteran fighter pilot and now historian of the Air Force, in Sierra Hotel: Flying Air Force Fighters in the Decade After Vietnam. “They further argued that the airplane was so big and easy to see that the pilot of a small F-5-sized fighter could easily get inside the F-15 pilot’s OODA loop and wreak havoc. Ironically, the very argument the Reformers used proved the case against them. The Eagle was big, but its radar and superb missiles not only gave the F-15 pilot the first chance to observe, orient, and decide, they also give him the first chance to act.”
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