From Air Force Times

 

Deputy SecDef: No more Raptors needed

By John T. Bennett - Staff writer

Posted : Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 11:35:26 EST

 

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England defended his position that the Air Force needs no more than 187 F-22 Raptors, saying Saturday that several Pentagon studies have concluded that number is sufficient to tackle future threats.

 

In recent months, senior Air Force officials have intensified their public campaign for 381 of the Lockheed Martin-made fighters. Senior Pentagon officials recently approved an Air Force plan to purchase four more Raptors, a move that will bring the planned buy to 191 warplanes. In a Jan. 14 letter to Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., England said the Department of Defense intends to keep the Lockheed Martin production line running via a 2009 supplemental funding request for more planes to replace war-related losses.

 

But sources with knowledge of internal Pentagon discussions say England has blocked the air service’s attempts to substantially increase the currently planned buy.

 

“All of the analysis points supports the fact that that is the right number … so that is the number we’re going to build,” England said under gloomy skies following a chilly christening ceremony for a new Navy destroyer here. “I know there are people who would like to build more, but we can’t support that by our analysis.”

 

Rumors have swirled for weeks about studies by England’s office of just how many Raptors will be needed. Sources have said those studies put the number at more than 190.

 

England denied that.

 

“That’s not the case. The analysis by the Department of Defense supports the right number is 180-something airplanes,” he said.

 

England said the decision to buy four more Raptors using supplemental funding would likely be the Bush administration’s final tinkering with the program. He noted it will be up to the next administration to decide whether to expand the buy closer to the 381 fighters the Air Force wants.

From Air Force Times

 

Debate over more F-22s must be settled by fall

By Erik Holmes - Staff writer

Posted : Thursday Feb 14, 2008 7:12:03 EST

 

The Pentagon and Congress must decide by October whether the Air Force will buy more F-22s in future years in order to avoid a costly gap in production, the F-22 program’s top officer said Wednesday.

 

“For us to have a non-break in production ... we need to know that we can purchase aircraft [in 2009] as the appropriation comes out at the beginning of the … fiscal year,” said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Riemer, the F-22 program executive officer, speaking at a defense technology conference in Washington. The 2009 fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

 

If the Air Force waits longer to order the titanium needed to build the aircraft, Riemer said, the metal will not be available in time to avoid a pause in production.

 

And Riemer said some parts suppliers will begin shutting down their production lines in November, which would require the Air Force to pay more money to reopen those lines.

 

The fiscal 2009 budget request submitted to Congress Feb. 4 includes funding to pay for 20 F-22s the Air Force had already committed to buying. But it does not include funding to pay for long-lead time items — such as titanium — for more aircraft to be purchased in future years, nor does it include money to begin shutting down the production line.

 

“My big issue this year is what do we do?” Riemer said. “Do we shut down or do we build more?”

 

Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne requested late last year that $497 million in 2009 slated to shut down the F-22 line instead be used to pay for long lead-time items for more airplanes. Despite early indications the Defense Department would go along with that idea, the department ultimately rejected it, according to Air Force budget officials. That money has instead been diverted to pay for repairs for grounded F-15s.

 

That leaves program officials with no firm direction on what to do in 2009. Defense Department officials will reportedly try to keep the production line open until the next administration takes office by using the fiscal 2009 war supplemental to buy four additional F-22s. But Riemer said such a move will not solve the problem.

 

“Keeping the line open with four additional aircraft in the [war] supplemental will not ... prevent a break in production,” he said. “We need aircraft in the [2009] budget to sustain production beyond the current lot.”

 

Until lawmakers and military planners make a decision, Riemer said, he is developing plans for both scenarios — either buying long-lead items for more aircraft or spending the money to shut the line down. Either scenario is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $500 million.