In October, 1999, as part of the annual Defense Department appropriations act, Congress restructured the F-22 program and placed certain conditions that had to be met before the decision to move the program out of the development phase and in to production could be made. Below are the relevant provisions of the legislation.

Department of Defense Appropriations Act
for Fiscal Year 2000 (P.L. 106-79)

SEC. 8146. (a) In addition to amounts appropriated elsewhere in this Act, $1,000,000,000 is hereby appropriated for the F-22 program: Provided, That these funds shall only be available for transfer to the appropriate F-22 program R-1 and P-1 line items of titles IV and III of this Act for the purposes of F-22 program research, development, test and evaluation, and advance procurement: Provided further, That of this amount, not more than $277,100,000 may be transferred to the `Aircraft Procurement, Air Force' account only for advance procurement of F-22 aircraft: Provided further, That any funds transferred for F-22 advance procurement shall not be available for obligation until the Secretary of Defense certifies to the congressional defense committees that all 1999 Defense Acquisition Board exit criteria have been met: Provided further, That the transfer authority provided in this section is in addition to any other transfer authority contained elsewhere in this Act.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Defense may use funds provided under this section and transferred to titles IV and III of this Act to continue acquisition of F-22 test aircraft for which procurement funding has been previously provided.

(c) The Secretary of the Air Force shall adjust the amounts of the limitations set forth in subsections (a) and (b) of section 217, Public Law 105-85 accordingly, and may modify any F-22 contracts to implement the requirements of this section.

(d) Funds appropriated in this Act or any other prior Act for `Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force' and `Aircraft Procurement, Air Force' may not be used for acquisition of more than a total of 17 flight-capable test vehicles for the F-22 aircraft program.

(e) The Secretary of the Air Force may not award a full funding contract for low-rate initial production for the F-22 aircraft program until –

(1) the first flight of an F-22 aircraft incorporating Block 3.0 software has been conducted;

(2) the Secretary of Defense certifies to the congressional defense committees that all Defense Acquisition Board exit criteria for the award of low-rate initial production of the aircraft have been met; and

(3) upon completion of the requirements under (e)(1) and (e)(2) the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation submits to the congressional defense committees a report assessing the adequacy of testing to date to measure and predict performance of F-22 avionics systems, stealth characteristics, and weapons delivery systems.

(f) The funds transferred under the authority provided within this section shall be merged with and shall be available for the same purposes, and for the same time period, as the appropriation to which transferred.

SEC. 8147. (a) In addition to the amounts appropriated elsewhere in this Act, $300,000,000 is hereby appropriated for F-22 program termination liability or for other F-22 program contractual requirements in lieu of termination liability obligations: Provided, That these funds shall only be available for transfer to the appropriate F-22 program R-1 and P-1 line items of titles IV and III of this Act for the purposes specified in this section: Provided further, That the transfer authority provided in this section is in addition to any other transfer authority contained elsewhere in this Act: Provided further, That these funds shall not be available for expenditure until October 1, 2000.

(b) The funds transferred under the authority provided within this section shall be merged with and shall be available for the same purposes, and for the same time period, as the appropriation to which transferred.