In the F-22 matter, Wynne and Moseley feel they won an important concession by getting DOD to stretch out production through 2010. Why? Their answer is that such a plan will put the two “fifth generation” fighters—the F-22 and F-35, in heel-to-toe production. Here’s another, albeit unstated, possibility: The Bush Administration won’t be around to build the 2011 budget. It just could be that a new Pentagon team would decide to keep building Raptors, which will be easy if the line is still open.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
