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The last manned fighter 最后一代有人驾驶战斗机 LEON PANETTA is under no illusions about what Barack Obama moved him from the CIA to thePentagon to do. The wily Mr Panetta, who took over from Robert Gates as defence secretary atthe beginning of the month, is everyones idea of a safe pair of hands. But his greatest claim tofame is as the director of theOffice of Management and Budget who paved the way to the balanced budget of 1998. MrPanetta has inherited from his predecessor the outlines of a plan to reduce military spendingby $400 billion by 2023. But Americas fiscal crisis makes it almost certain that Mr Panetta will have to cut further and fasterthan Mr Gates would have wished. 对于奥巴马将自己从中情局调往五角大楼的意图，莱昂??帕内塔可谓心知肚明。月初刚刚接替罗伯特??盖茨成为国防部长的帕内塔为人老练，是个公认的值得信赖之人。帕内塔最露脸的一次是在担任管理和预算办公室主任期间领导有方，实现了1998年度财政收支平衡。帕内塔将继续实施其前任的计划，即到2023 年削减4000亿美元的军费开支，但由于美国当前的财政危机，帕内塔几乎肯定会用比盖茨原计划更有过之而无不及的力度和速度来削减军费。 That could be bad news for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive military-industrialprogramme in history, and its lead contractor, Lockheed Martin. The plane is expected to comeinto service six years late and wildly over-budget. The Pentagon still plans to buy2,443 F-35s over the next 25 years, at a cost of $382 billion. But in a parting shot, Mr Gatesgave warning that although he did not think the F-35 faced cancellation, the size of the buymight have to be cut. | 
