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

Source URL: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/083006dnbusf22.30be83a.html
Posted at: http://www.air-attack/com/news/news_article/2051

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.

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