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.
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.
