Air Force Buys 60 Additional F-22 for $5 Billion

[onedomino]

This will bring the F-22 fleet size to 183 aircraft. Due to the enormous cost of the fighter, this is far fewer than the USAF had initially envisioned. At what point does technical sophistication become a liability due to cost? Each aircraft may be very capable, but what happens when you have too few aircraft? We should sell this machine to the Japanese and Australians as they have requested. Thereby reducing unit cost. But so far the Pentagon and the US Congress have refused. Now the Japanese will look elsewhere for their next generation fighter. Anyway, the new contract is good news for Marietta, Georgia, where the Raptor is assembled.

$5 Billion Lockheed Contract Buys 60 F-22s
By Erik Holmes

complete article: http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=2939672&C=america

The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin signed a $5 billion, multiyear contract July 31 for the purchase of 60 more F-22 Raptor fighters, Lockheed announced.

The contract, for three lots of 20 jets each, brings the total multiyear contract value to $7.3 billion and extends production of the aircraft through 2011.

Delivery of aircraft produced under the contract will start in late 2008, according to the Lockheed news release.

The multiyear contract is expected to save the Air Force about $410 million, compared to buying the 60 aircraft under three separate contracts.

The deal survived intense opposition by some in Congress, led by such heavyweights as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. John Warner, R-Va. They questioned the Air Force’s estimate of the potential savings and fretted that the deal would take away the procurement flexibility Congress desires.

Despite the opposition, Congress approved the multiyear buy as part of the fiscal 2007 National Defense Authorization Act and the 2007 Appropriations Act. But Congress also mandated that Rand Corp. conduct a study of the possible savings achieved by the deal.