The F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter

The F-22, known as the "Raptor," is an air-superiority fighter intended to replace a portion of the Air Force's fleet of F-15s. The aircraft will utilize "stealth" technologies, and be able to cruise at supersonic speed without afterburners, thus saving fuel. Lockheed-Martin is the prime contractor, while Boeing (airframes) and Pratt & Whitney (engines) are major subcontractors. The F-22 has become the centerpiece of the debate over the U.S. aircraft modernization program due to a number of factors, including the cost of the program and the lack of a threat to U.S. air superiority.

PROGRAM COSTS -- Originally the Air Force had planned to buy 438 F-22s at a total cost of $71 billion, for an average cost of $159 million per plane, making it the most expensive fighter aircraft in history. However, the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), released in May 1997, recommended reducing the total number of aircraft purchased to 339.

In an interview with "Defense Daily" (July 8, 1997), Air Force acquisition chief Arthur Money indicated that plans to cut the number of F-22s purchased by 99 would reduce costs of the production phase, originally estimated at $48 billion, by $5 billion. Serious concerns have been raised, however, about the ability of the Air Force and the plane's builders to control production costs.

In June 1996 The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition put together a Joint Estimating Team (JET) made up of USAF, DoD and private industry to do a cost estimate for the F-22. They found that the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) program (the phase before procurement) would cost $18.688 billion, an increase of about $1.45 billion over the previous Air Force estimates. The FY'98 DoD Authorization bill capped this portion of the program at $18.939 billion, or $251 million more than even the JET estimate. Total increases to EMD program to date are $1.7 billion. The procurement phase is capped at $43.4 billion dollars. All told, the cost of the F-22 program is currently capped at $62.7 billion for 339 aircraft, or $187 million apiece.

"These three programs...will result in a huge bow wave of annual costs and annual production numbers."

Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA)
Chairman, House Research and Development Subcommittee
Congressional Hearing on Tactical Aircraft, March 5, 1997

In a 1997 study the Congressional Budget Office concluded that the three tactical aircraft programs have already exceeded the projected $350 billion pricetag by $7 billion. Further, CBO said that buying all three aircraft will cost between $14 billion and $18 billion each year from 2008 to 2014. This would consume roughly 35 percent of the Pentagon's current annual budget for all weapons purchases, including ships, tanks, rifles, etc. Tactical aircraft purchases now total only about 6 percent of the procurement budget.

Another CBO study concluded that during the development of these new aircraft, aircraft in the current fleet would have to be kept in service well beyond the twenty years that the Pentagon had planned to operate them. In addition, the General Accounting Office stated in a 1993 study that F-22 production could be delayed until 2010 without undue risk to U.S. air superiority. Thus, the Pentagon could modernize its fleet by purchasing new models of existing, proven aircraft, at a lower cost, while maintaining U.S. air dominance.

PROGRAM STATUS -- The first F-22 made its maiden flight on September 7, 1997. The flight had been originally scheduled for late May, but was delayed for several months due to a series of problems, including leaks in a fuel tank, a faulty fuel probe, and a malfunctioning auxiliary power unit. And while a loss of telemetry during the second flight lead program officials to consider additional flights during the first batch of tests, flight testing was eventually halted after only two of three scheduled flights. Cost and scheduling problems led program officials to cut short the first series of tests even though the completed tests had identified a problem with the aircraft's hydraulic system.

Despite the fact that less than 4% of planned tests had been completed, two "pre-production models were ordered in 1998 and a decision to begin initial low-rate production is planned for November, 1999, when fewer than 600 hours (14%) of a 4,300 hour program of required tests will have been completed.

RECOMMENDATIONS -- Terminate the F-22 program. The United States is, and will remain for the foreseeable future, the world's dominant air power. Rather than committing our nation to huge expenditures for unneeded aircraft, we should continue to purchase new models of current aircraft, while continuing to develop the technologies which will be incorporated into the aircraft of the future.

For more information on the F-22 and the U.S. tactical aircraft modernization program, see CDI's new "TACAIR Website" at http://www.cdi.org/issues/tacair