High cost may slow Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor

Posted on: Aug. 30th, 2006 || Source: dallasnews.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. -- Neighbors of this history-laden airfield are getting used to a new sight: a plane roughly the color and shape of a giant arrowhead that takes off with a throaty roar and disappears in a hurry.

Built partly in Fort Worth, the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-22 Raptor is the Air Force's newest, fastest, stealthiest and most potent fighter jet. In a two-week exercise in Alaska this June, the Raptors of Langley's 27th Fighter Squadron racked up a record of 241-2 in mock battles with older U.S. fighters, according to Lt. Col. Wade Tolliver, the squadron's commander.

But the F-22 is also by far the priciest fighter plane around, and therein lies a problem for the Air Force, which originally wanted to buy more than 700.

Read the full article

• Boeing's C-130 AMP Flight Marks Completion of Software Development
• Navy UCAS Demonstrator On Track for First Flight
• Lockheed Demonstrates Intelligent Autonomous Control of Multiple UAVs
• Russian Navy aircraft test new equipment over the Arctic
• Russia may push forward with S-300 sales to Iran
• Boeing, US Navy Offer Super Hornet for Denmark Fighter Competition
• Boeing Awarded US Army Contract for 191 CH-47F Chinook Helicopters
• The Netherlands shows interest in Gripen
• 4th F-35 Lightning II Rolls Out As Production Line Fills Up At Lockheed
• Lockheed Martin C-5m Super Galaxy Completes Flight Test
• Air Guard Predator pilots increase combat air patrols
• Predator passes 400,000 hours
• Future Predator/Reaper Formal Training Unit announced
• Saab/Gripen team completes Hungarian offset contract
• South African Gripen deliveries on track