Says Aircraft Almost Surely Headed For Full-Rate Production

The man in charge of buying weapons for the Pentagon really likes Lockheed Martin's F/A-22 Raptor. He thinks the aircraft is virtually assured of achieving full-rate production.

Shortly after testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Michael Wynn told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the Raptor is "an exceptionally well-performing airplane" and a "major contributor to the defense of America."

Wynn said a formal announcement that the F/A-22 can enter full-rate production could come as early as tomorrow. "That is still in process," Wynne said, "but I saw nothing to inhibit it from being full-rate capable."

The Defense Acquisition Board last month gave its okay to full-rate production. All together, Wynn's endorsement and that of the board go a long way toward allaying fears by F/A-22 backers that the program would be canceled at the end of fiscal 2008.

With the authorization in hand, Lockheed plans to produce 32 Raptors a year between now and 2008. Production had been at a relatively low level -- 24 aircraft in 2004 and 2005; 25 aircraft in 2006 -- until now.

The Raptor program has been plagued with questions about costs and technical issues. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he still wants a full investigation into why the $63,8 billion program has doubled in cost since it was first undertaken in 1986.

"This is not an automatic," said Lockheed spokesman Tom Jurkowsky."That's the decision that has to be made by the Air Force, the Department of Defense and of course Congress."

Still, even McCain admitted that the F/A-22 will be around for awhile. "I have never seen a weapons system in full production that got canceled," he told the Star-Telegram.

FMI: www.f-22raptor.com