USAF Official Claims Cancelling Civilian Programs Increases Military Costs

Louisiana's U.S. Senator David Vitter.

I've read through this a few times and still can't see the logic in it.

An Air Force undersecretary claims that cancelling Shuttle and Constellation will somehow result in increasing the cost of launching unmanned Atlas and Delta rockets.

My cynicism suggests this is the military-industrial complex at work, justifying its own bloated budgets with scare tactics.

The fact that the questions came from Louisiana senator David Vitter only increases my skepticism. The Republican Vitter has been Vitter, a Republican, has been a vocal critic of President Obama's proposed FY 2011 NASA budget.

The Space Shuttle's orange external tank is manufactured at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Like many elected officials representing NASA space center districts, Vitter has been vocal about protesting the Obama administration's proposed budget so he can protect voters' jobs in his state.