It appears to me imperative that a further  increase of 6,000 guns should be provided for
at once.
     The aircraft programme does not surpass the British programme of operational types in
any direction with the exception of light bombers. These are very useful, but other classifications
are of more value.
     I have already urged that the fighter programme should be doubled. Many difficulties will
arise and much argument will take place before such a large target is realised. But it seems to me
that the immense possibilities of American industry justify such an expectation.
     The need for 24,000 fighters is shown by experience of heavy losses through combat,
through flights in war conditions and through operational training exercises.
     An examination of British operational experience will convince you of the present
necessity for this increased programme.
     If the fighter programme is increased by as much as 12,000 in output in the year 1942,
then of course other types must also show an increase in output, though not on the same scale as
the fighter programme.
     In anti-aircraft guns,  the United States Government has a very unsatisfactory supply in
hand.
     The Government is therefore involved in a programme of anti-aircraft weapons not only
sufficiently extensive to provide for necessities during the year 1942, but also to build up a
reasonable stock
 
 
 
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