Air Force to withhold some F-22 funds from Lockheed

Posted on: Jul. 13th, 2006 || Source: ajc.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

The Air Force has decided to withhold up to $57 million to pay for inspections of 48 F-22A Raptor fighters with flaws in a portion of their airframes.

"Contractually, it is within their right to do so," said Joe Quimby, a Lockheed Martin spokesman in Marietta, where the F-22s are built. "There is no degradation of the expected service life of the F-22. There was never a safety of flight risk associated with this problem."

Lockheed officials said in December that a subcontractor failed to properly heat a portion of the titanium airframes on 48 jets — a flaw that could lead to cracking. The Air Force said Wednesday it will withhold $250,000 to $1.2 million per plane.

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