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.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
