U.S. Air Force says needs more F-22 fighters
Air Force Chief of Staff, Norton Schwartz, told reporters today that having more F-22 Raptors is a “requirement” for the Air Force and that they are willing to scale back other purchases in order to attain more of the fighter jets.
I found a couple of articles on the subject. Our fighter jets are aging fast, especially with the war. They were old before the War on Terrorism kicked off and operations have only served to add to their wearout. Air Force officials are even going to the point of giving up other programs to get their much needed fighters.
WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force has determined it needs more Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) F-22 fighter jets than have been ordered so far, but fewer than it previously sought, the service’s top uniformed officer said on Tuesday.
Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, said he would not dispute a characterization that over the coming three years the service was seeking to add 60 of the premier fighter jets to the 183 now on order, for a total of 243.
The revised request would be for a fleet totaling fewer than 381 Raptors, the previous Air Force goal, Schwartz told reporters, without disclosing the new number.
The Air Force once sought to buy as many as 750 F-22s, which it reckons cost about $142 million apiece in fiscal 2008, not including development costs.
The revised requirement is “driven by analysis as opposed to some other formulation,” Schwartz said. “And I think it will withstand scrutiny.”
The administration must make critical decisions about the F-22 by about March 1 or Lockheed Martin says it will have to start phasing out the production line, threatening tens of thousands of jobs.
Schwartz said he expects to present the Air Force’s new F-22 analysis to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates within a few weeks.
Pressed on why the Air Force was giving up on the 381 F-22s it had long stated it needed to make sure it could dominate the skies from day one of any future conflict, Schwartz spoke of going from a “low risk” to a “moderate risk” number.
“And there are few things in our armed forces that we have, you know, a low-risk posture, simply because of the overall demands across the force,” he said.
Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon’s No. 1 supplier by sales, said, “We’re encouraged to read that based on an analysis of needs, the Air Force wants to purchase additional F-22s beyond the current 183…”
“We stand ready to work with the Air Force and DoD to continue building and delivering high-quality Raptors on schedule and budget, whatever the final number is determined to be,” said Sam Grizzle, a Lockheed spokesman.
He said some suppliers had already been notified that Lockheed would start shutdown activities on March 1 unless President Barack Obama “certifies that continued production of the F-22 is in the national interest.”
To date, 135 Raptors have been delivered to the Air Force. Lockheed says “more than 95,000 Americans owe their jobs to the F-22 program.”
Gates and other Pentagon holdovers from the administration of former President George W. Bush have resisted buying more F-22s. Instead, they have favored the less costly F-35 Joint Strike Fighter being developed by Lockheed with eight foreign partners: Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. Schwartz made clear the Air Force was prepared to sacrifice on other, unspecified weapons acquisition priorities in exchange for funding for more than 183 F-22s
“Our basic approach is if we want something, we’re going to pay for it,” he said.
Schwartz rejected recent criticism of the F-22’s performance by John Young, the Pentagon’s top arms buyer, who said the F-22s were ready to fly only 62 per cent of the time.
In its initially planned air-to-air mode, the aircraft “certainly is” capable without additional investment, Schwartz said. The Air Force plans to spend about $8 billion to upgrade older F-22s to give them an increased ability to take out advanced air defenses on the ground.
UPI just published an Op/Ed, Obama needs to rescue the F-22 Raptor from being scrapped. The article was authored by Loren B. Thompson of the Lexington Institute.
ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 17 (UPI) — Sometime in the next dozen days, President Barack Obama will make his first big decision about America’s future military capabilities. The fiscal 2009 National Defense Authorization Act requires the president to tell Congress by March 1 whether the nation’s interest is best served by purchasing more F-22 fighters or ceasing production. If he decides to end the program, contractor Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) will begin laying off workers almost immediately, as will dozens of suppliers. The Air Force will have to make do with the 183 planes it already has ordered.
I normally don’t discuss defense spending in the first person, because it undercuts the image of objectivity to which we analysts all aspire. But after writing for a dozen years about why the F-22 is needed — more than I have discussed any other weapons program — I want to make this last commentary before the president’s decision personal.
What follows is not a discussion about jobs, or politics, or America’s place in the world. It is about the role the F-22 plays in our war plans, and what would happen to our soldiers and sailors and Marines if it were not available in sufficient numbers.
The greatest gift that has been given to America’s war fighters in my lifetime is command of the air. That phrase — “command of the air” — is the way the first great exponent of air power described the ability to control and use the air space above our own country and the other nations of the world.
Command of the air is the central, indispensable mission of the F-22. It is the reason why the plane is stealthier than any other aircraft in the world, why it is more maneuverable, why it is more fuel-efficient at high speeds, and why it is crammed with more sensors and computing power than any plane of similar size. Command of the air is also why it costs so much — about $150 million for each additional plane.
What does that high cost get us? An Air Force that can use all its other planes in wartime without fear of horrendous losses. An Army that can continue to operate, as it has over the last 50 years, without suffering any casualties from hostile aircraft. And a defense posture that can deter war without threatening the use of nuclear weapons.
Every potential aggressor in the world knows that if it faces the F-22 in aerial combat, it will lose, and that if the F-22 is sent to attack targets in its nation, the targets will be destroyed. The enemies of the United States cannot see the plane with their radars, and they cannot catch it with their fighters. They are defenseless against it, and will remain so for decades to come.
No other weapon in our arsenal provides that kind of defense and that kind of deterrence. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter will deliver similar stealthiness, but it lacks the agility and awareness of the F-22. That is why the two planes were designed to operate together — because there are many things the F-22 can do that the F-35 cannot. Which makes the F-22 a bargain in a way that tanks and destroyers will never be. It enables the success of all the other weapons and war fighters in the joint force. But if the United States is to benefit fully from the promise of the F-22, then we must buy enough to cover the world, and 183 planes simply isn’t enough to do that.
