Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin’s F-22 program manager, said the company will have to see some money in the Fiscal 2009 budget if the F-22 is to go beyond 183 aircraft. Congress approved a multiyear buy for the F-22 and all 183 aircraft now planned by the Air Force are under contract. However, USAF has long maintained that its real requirement is 381 F-22s. Lawson said that if there’s no movement to extend production, long-lead parts production will start wrapping up late next year, and the shut-down of the assembly line will begin.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
