USAF Top 5 Priority Programs

F-22 is on the right flight path, Air Force says

Business for Lockheed is steady as military focuses on other needs

10:44 PM CDT on Thursday, October 12, 2006

By RICHARD WHITTLE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – The F-22 Raptor fighter plane, which is produced by 2,000 Lockheed Martin Corp. employees in Fort Worth, is no longer the Air Force’s No. 1 priority, the service’s top two leaders declared Thursday.

That’s a good thing for Lockheed.

Recent congressional approval of Air Force requests to negotiate a multiple-year contract to buy F-22s from Lockheed allows them to turn their attention to other procurement needs, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. T. Michael “Buzz” Moseley, the service’s chief of staff, told reporters.

U.S. Air Force
The Air Force plans to buy 20 Lockheed F-22 Raptors a year in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The F-22 has been the Air Force’s top funding priority for more than a decade.

Grand Prairie native Gen. Moseley said it was “exciting for us to be able to tell you that the focus now is not just on F-22.”

“That’s not really surprising to us,” said Lockheed spokesman Tom Jurkowsky. “With the multiyear funding that’s been approved, we feel the program has achieved stability. The Air Force can now focus on some of the other near-term challenges that they have in this very austere budgetary environment.”

Gen. Moseley said Lockheed’s F-35 Lightning II, the Joint Strike Fighter, on which about 4,000 people work at the Fort Worth plant, has moved up to fourth among the Air Force’s five new top priorities. The F-35 is to be built for the Marines, the Navy and at least eight foreign allies as well.

But while Gen. Moseley and Mr. Wynne said the Air Force still intends to buy 1,763 F-35s, the secretary said the service may buy them more slowly than originally planned.

“We used to say that we would like 110 a year,” the secretary said. “I don’t think we’re there anymore. I think we’re below 100 [a year].”

Defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute – a Washington think tank with close ties to the Air Force and Lockheed – said the surprise announcement reflected expectations that a multiyear contract will end what have been annual battles in Congress over the F-22, the most expensive fighter ever built.

The Raptor, a radar-evading jet that can cruise faster than the speed of sound and is crammed with exotic electronic sensors giving its pilot a “God’s-eye view” of the air and ground, costs $133 million to $248 million a plane, depending on what expenses are counted.

“The Air Force just had to fight year after year to protect the F-22,” Mr. Thompson said.

Gen. Moseley and Mr. Wynne listed five new purchasing priorities:

•Buying new aerial refueling tankers to replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of about 500, some of which are 45 years old.

•Developing a new combat search-and-rescue helicopter.

•Acquiring new early warning and communications satellites.

•Shepherding the F-35 through initial development and testing to production.

•Developing a new “long-range strike platform” to replace the nation’s strategic bombers around 2020.

The Air Force initially wanted more than 700 F-22s but has had to reduce that number over the years as the cost of the exotic fighter rose and critics fought to cut the program, saying the Raptor was a Cold War relic best suited to dogfighting Soviet warplanes. The Air Force insists the F-22’s speed and sensors make it vital.

Over the years, the planned purchase of Raptors was cut steadily to well below the 381 that Air Force leaders regard as the minimum, which would be enough for 10 squadrons with 24 combat-ready F-22s each and spares for training and other purposes.

Last year the Pentagon approved a final number of 183.

With its new authority, the Air Force plans to negotiate a deal with Lockheed to buy 20 a year in 2007, 2008 and 2009 – a move the service expects to save $225 million by helping the company lock in prices with subcontractors and suppliers.

Dropping the F-22 as the service’s top priority doesn’t mean the Air Force has given up on getting more than 183, Gen. Moseley said. The 381 that would outfit 10 full squadrons “is about the right number” to buy, he said.

Mr. Thompson predicted that “at some point, the service will want to come back and extend production again, but it’s not going to be an issue in [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld’s term again.”
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I was just wondering about the CSAR helicopter requirement and why the Blackhawk can’t do the job?