Eric L. Palmer is a former USAF photographer who now works for I.T. for some "nationwide company" out of Australia according to his blog: http://ericpalmer.wordpress.com/about/
Hmmm....what company might that be? Could it be....Lockheed Martin?
It would be nice if he'd go back to taking pictures because they're definitely worth more than his words I have no doubt. Who the hell does this guy think he is? I've read a couple of his articles now where he appears to represent the defense industry or he just had a hard on for the F-22. In his recent posting on F-16.net (oh, that explains his credentials) he stated (http://www.f-16.net/news_article3576.html):
"The debate over the F-22 has shown that some have no limit to the amount of ignorance they can acquire. Since there are a large amount of people that can’t explain why they want to cancel it or keep it going, finding true clarity is a challenge."
He doesn't offer any clarity though. He does, however, claim that Secretary Gates put a "gag order" on his senior staff when coming up with the 2010 budget and refers to this as his own version of Don't Ask Don't Tell... Whatever that means he provides no evidence of a gag order. He then talks about the head of ACC being ignored as an expert despite said commander making the news for criticizing the civilian leadership's budget priorities with his risk assessment. Hell, I can see why Palmer is worried. The ACC commander is as expert as an air conditioning vendor telling you your AC is failing and he's as expert as the Jiffy Lube technician telling you your air filter really needs to be replaced. I'm sure the experts made the case and the SecDef just wants to stiff the F-22 folks. He's just got a mean streak. Hey, wait! Could it be that the air filter isn't really needed? Nah, never mind.
Palmer the photographer is worried because there hasn't been a study to suggest the Sec Def's desired mix of F-22s is proper. That is cause for concern. He should also be concerned that there isn't a study showing that ex-Air Force-photographers aren't idiots that should put away their keyboards. If the study doesn't exist shouldn't he be concerned that he's an idiot?
He asks, "Shouldn’t something this important [potentially losing air superiority] include a more honest debate?" There was an honest debate but they forgot to invite ex-USAF-photographers. You missed it.
Palmer has the audacity to claim Gates has credibility issues because he hasn't cancelled other gold plated deals. Right. He then furthers his claim because Gates is putting so much stock in F-35s which Palmer says hasn't been validated with testing. He even goes so far as to criticize the USMC for it's "magical belief" in the F-35. Let me think...who has more credibility... A Secretary of Defense that has made tough decisions which make sense in the face of a greedy defense industry and the United States Marine Corps which has a history of making do without fat monetary contracts and cancelling bullshit projects that don't support their warfighters....or some photographer who more than likely works for a defense industry? Yeah, that's easy. Sometimes I wish the internet hadn't been invented.
Palmer says of Gates, "So far, his opinions of what kind of weapons systems add value to the defense of the United States are lacking."
Palmer is a moron. F-16.net needs to stop giving him airtime. The Secretary Defense has got it under control. He really doesn't need advice from an ex-photographer with a blog.