Friday, October 30, 2009

DTN News: Lockheed Gets $474.2 Mln F-22 Fighter Contract

DTN News: Lockheed Gets $474.2 Mln F-22 Fighter Contract *Source: DTN News / Defense News (NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, USA - October 30, 2009: Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) has been awarded a $474.2 million U.S. Air Force contract for four more F-22 fighter aircraft and related work as production heads toward an end, the Defense Department said Thursday. F-22 Raptor – the world’s premier 5TH generation fighter. The F-22 is the only fighter capable of simultaneously conducting air-to-air and air-to-ground combat missions with near impunity. This is accomplished with a never-before-seen standard of survivability even while facing large numbers of sophisticated airborne and ground-based threats. In addition to being America’s most prominent air-superiority fighter, the F-22 evolved from its original concept to become a lethal, survivable and flexible multimission fighter. By taking advantage of emerging technologies the F-22 has emerged as a superior platform for many diverse missions including intelligence gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic attack. The Raptor is operational today, protecting our homeland and combat ready for worldwide deployment. Two squadrons of F-22s are assigned to Air Combat Command’s 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB, Va. And two squadrons are assigned to the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. Raptor pilots and maintainers train at Tyndall AFB, Fla., while operational testing is conducted at Edwards AFB, Calif., and Nellis AFB, Nev. New F-22s continue to roll from the production line and will soon operate out of Holloman AFB, N.M., and Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Under the fiscal 2010 defense authorization act signed into law Wednesday by President Barack Obama, the United States is capping production at 187 of the premier U.S. fighter aircraft. (Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing Bernard Orr)

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