Today, it's official: the Lockheed Martin F-22 production line will finally expire in June 2012, which, of course, means the company and its congressional allies have exactly four years and 11 months to contrive a reason to keep the program alive.
Anyone familiar with the ongoing saga of the Boeing C-17 production line knows that a major weapon system in hot production is like a cockroach in a mushroom cloud. It survives.
Time will only tell when the F-22 finally meets its fifth-generation fate. With the US Air Force still hoping to essentially double the orderbook to at least 380 and certain key allies asking for the Raptor's keys, there's still plenty of reason to believe that where there's a will, there's a ... well, you know. But with budget pressures and the small matter of the need to reconstruct the army and the marine corps in this pre-post-Iraq period, finding extra cash will be tricky.
"Er, remember Tiananmen?" Source: USAF
on August 30, 2007 7:22 PM | Reply
Concerning the F-22, it seems more logical to procure more F-22s and less F-35s. Air superiority will play an increasingly important role in the future, especially since Russia is sitting on plenty of money these days. The Russian (military) aircraft industry is not sitting still, but in fact developing their own 5th generation fighters. The F-35 will be no match for these fighters. So to me, it makes sense for the U.S. to increase the number of F-22s and reduce the number of F-35s.
Furthermore, I think that the U.S. will be better off procuring advanced UCAS instead of some of the F-35s, given the fighter's small payload. Of course, the concerned political parties may choose not to see the advantages.
on September 2, 2009 8:53 PM | Reply
I really hope that congress will realize the benefits of increasing the inventory of F-22 fighters at the expense of fewer F-35s...larger payload, twin engine vs one single engine, just for starters. It also appears more logical to procure more STOVL F-35s, this way the fighters could be deployed in a myriad of diverse locations closer to the fight, while employing the element of surprise.