Posted 2009/10/28 at 6:27 am EDT
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2009 (Reuters) — President Barack Obama will say on Wednesday there is still too much waste in U.S. defense spending, despite a number of costly projects being terminated in the 2010 defense authorization bill.
The bill authorizes Pentagon operations, and Obama's administration threatened a veto because it calls for several programs the Pentagon had deemed unnecessary. Among those is an F-35 fighter jet engine built by General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group Plc.
"This bill isn't perfect. There is still more waste we need to cut. There are still more fights we need to win," Obama will say, according to excerpts of remarks he will deliver at a White House ceremony to sign the bill into law.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Vice President Joe Biden and members of the Congress will attend.
Obama has taken aim at no-bid contracts and costly defense contracts that are often plagued by massive cost overruns and delays.
"No longer will we be spending nearly two billion dollars to buy more F-22 fighter jets that the Pentagon says they don't need," Obama will say on Wednesday.
He will say he rejects "the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars to keep this nation secure."
The bill also terminates programs such as the Future Combat Systems and the airborne laser, and a new presidential helicopter that costs nearly as much as Air Force One.
Both the VH-71 presidential helicopter and the F-22 are made by Lockheed Martin Corp.
Obama said the bill would fund the Joint Strike Fighter, the littoral combat ship and more helicopters.
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