DTN News: F-22 Raptors At Kadena Air Base, Okinawa ~ Is A Fifth-Generation Stealth Air Superiority Fighter Aircraft And Best In The World

DTN News: F-22 Raptors At Kadena Air Base, Okinawa ~ Is A Fifth-Generation Stealth Air Superiority Fighter Aircraft And Best In The World

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) - September 9, 2009: F-22 Raptors from the 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron returned to Anderson AFB on July 15 from Japan following training with F-15 Eagles at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor taking off at Kadena U.S. Air Force Base on Japan's southwestern island of Okinawa July 15, 2009. The aircraft, based in Langley, Virginia are being deployed in the region for four months.

The United States Air Force originally planned to order 750 ATFs, with production beginning in 1994; however, the 1990 Major Aircraft Review altered the plan to 648 aircraft beginning in 1996. The goal changed again in 1994, when it became 442 aircraft entering service in 2003 or 2004, but a 1997 Department of Defense report put the purchase at 339.

In 2003, the Air Force said that the existing congressional cost cap limited the purchase to 277. By 2006, the Pentagon said it will buy 183 aircraft, which would save $15 billion but raise the cost of each aircraft, and this plan has been de facto approved by Congress in the form of a multi-year procurement plan, which still holds open the possibility for new orders past that point. The total cost of the program by 2006 was $62 billion. In April 2006, the cost of the F-22 was assessed by the Government Accountability Office to be $361 million per aircraft. This cost reflects the F-22 total program cost, divided by the number of fighters the Air Force is programmed to buy; and which has so far invested $28 billion in the Raptor's research, development and testing.

That money, referred to as a "sunk cost", is already spent and is separate from money used for future decision-making, including procuring a copy of the jet. The Unit Procurement Cost was estimated at $177.6 million in 2006 based on a production run of 181 airframes. This unit cost will decrease if total production is higher. This cost includes $3.233 billion already spent on research and development by 2006. By the time all 183 fighters have been purchased, $34 billion will have been spent on actual procurement, resulting in a total program cost of $62 billion or about $339 million per aircraft. The incremental cost for one additional F-22 is around $138 million; decreasing with larger volumes. F-22 Raptors line up for refueling in their first official deployment, October 2005. On 31 July 2007, Lockheed Martin received a multiyear contract for 60 F-22s worth a total of US$7.3 billion. The contract brought the number of F-22s on order to 183 and extended production through 2011. Restarting production would greatly increase costs; building 75 more would cost an estimated $70 million extra per unit.