Lockheed Martin F-22 production line

Earlier this month Stephen Trimble's blog The DEW Line reported that the US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recommended halting the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor  production at 186 aircraft. Pictured here is the F-22 production line.

In the meantime, the US Air Force has cleared a five-year upgrade project to allow the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor to communicate with other stealthy - and perhaps some non-stealthy - aircraft types. The project will cost roughly $900 million.

Last month the US Air Force suffered its first fatal accident involving an F-22, when a test aircraft crashed near Edwards AFB in California.

• DEW Line posts about the F-22 

Picture credit - Lockheed Martin