A couple of weeks ago, in “The F-22 Raptor, Obama’s First Major Weapon Systems Decision,” I wrote that one of the first major weapon systems-related decisions the Obama administration will have to make is whether to purchase additional Lockheed-Martin F-22 Raptors, after the last one of a 183 aircraft order has been delivered.
Well, the date for that decision is rapidly approaching.
According to the Washington Post, in today’s “Lockheed Says Cutting F-22 Would Cost Jobs“:
Obama must decide by March 1 whether to spend $523 million on 20 more of the radar-evading planes beyond the 183 already planned. Pentagon leaders, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, have expressed doubt that more F-22s are needed, especially since the military plans to buy several thousand F-35s, a much cheaper plane.
And, as the headline says:
Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the F-22 fighter jet, said thousands of jobs would be lost if President Obama decides not to continue funding for the advanced but costly plane. Larry Lawson, Lockheed’s general manager of the F-22 program, said the program is responsible for about 95,000 jobs at 1,000 suppliers.
A few days ago, the Post also reported that Senator Carl Levin, head of the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee, is seriously talking about having to “cut or stretch out previously planned arms buying because of a budget crunch arising from efforts to shore up the rapidly declining U.S. economy.”
While Levin was mainly addressing the long-range U.S. antiballistic missile system (out of a $9 billion budget for ballistic missile defense—the costliest weapons development project—“about $3 billion is allocated to long-range missile defense and related antimissile technologies.”), other weapon systems and programs are vulnerable to cuts, including the F-22 Raptor program.
Having retired from both the U.S. Air Force and from Lockheed Martin, I will continue to keep an eye on F-22 developments and keep you posted.
The above “announcement” is also made in the interest of full disclosure.
For those who support the continuation of the F-22 fighter production, there is a web site, “Preserve Raptor Jobs,” where you can make such support known to legislators and the Obama administration.
The site urges:
Act Now!
Production of the world’s most advanced fighter aircraft, the F-22 Raptor, is in jeopardy. Your help is needed to urge the Obama Administration to save more than 95,000 American jobs and more than $12 billion in national economic activity. Keeping the production line of this model aerospace program open is not another bailout; rather, it simply requires that the new administration release funds already authorized by Congress to continue a successful program. By law, President-elect Obama must decide whether to continue the Raptor program during his first weeks in office. Please sign the petition to send the message to Congress that Obama must approve continuing the Raptor program, and send a letter to the White House urging the Administration to preserve F-22 Raptor production to protect American jobs, our economy, and national security!
