Gen. Bruce Carlson, chief of Air Force Materiel Command, told a group of reporters Wednesday that the Air Force will figure out a way to buy 380 F-22s, despite the fact that the Pentagon – through the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) – has capped the number of Raptors to be procured at 183.

What is first obvious is that is engaging in insubordination by giving a press conference saying that he will find a way to subvert the decisions of a superior in his chain of command, and he should be fired immediately.

This is far more brassy, and far more public than anything MacArthur did to Truman.

That being said, if he gets his wish, he will destroy the USAF as a fighting unit.

Flight International’s Stephen Trimble does the numbers, and gets an additional 20 F-22s a year at $150 million an aircraft gets another $3 Billion a year over the next 10 years.

Based on my experience with military contracting, I’d double that number when operational expenses, the inevitable cost overruns, and gold plated block improvements are added.

To do this, I think that you need to slash personnel, and cancel pretty much every other program, the F-35, the KC-X, the next gen bomber, the next gen freighter, etc.

You will also have to reduce the existing inventory to cut costs and to reflect the fact that you don’t have enough people to keep the stuff running