F-22 is on the right flight path, Air Force says

Source URL: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/101306dnbusf22.3017e82.html
Posted at: http://www.air-attack/com/news/news_article/2146

WASHINGTON - The F-22 Raptor fighter plane, which is produced by 2,000 Lockheed Martin Corp. employees in Fort Worth, is no longer the Air Force's No. 1 priority, the service's top two leaders declared Thursday.

That's a good thing for Lockheed.

Recent congressional approval of Air Force requests to negotiate a multiple-year contract to buy F-22s from Lockheed allows them to turn their attention to other procurement needs, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, the service's chief of staff, told reporters.

The F-22 has been the Air Force's top funding priority for more than a decade.

Grand Prairie native Gen. Moseley said it was "exciting for us to be able to tell you that the focus now is not just on F-22."

"That's not really surprising to us," said Lockheed spokesman Tom Jurkowsky. "With the multiyear funding that's been approved, we feel the program has achieved stability. The Air Force can now focus on some of the other near-term challenges that they have in this very austere budgetary environment."

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