three decades as a staffer before joining the department of information said planes are overdue for eloncati nc he is the author of "meltdown." welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> mckenzie, let's start with you. why should the planes survive? >> the air force said it needs more than 187 fighters budgeted for but that it can't afford them so this really is a debate about an inadequate air force top line. the air force fighter gap will only grow and get worse. as the f 15s and f-16s continued to retire at an accelerated rate and f-22 and f- 35 aren't come in fast enough to replace them, the gap is growing and affects the air national guard. finally, 187 planes only yields 125 combat-ready fighters and so when you look at instability in the air force, that's really not enough to care out the national military strategy. >> it's also -- and also the f- 15 force a couple of year was grounded by structural failures. winslow, why do you think the airplane should be terminated? >> mckenzie is right about a number of things. let's remember where we got to where we are. for decades, the air force has