When will the F-22 production line reach the point at which it will start shutting down without more orders? Sometime in summer of 2008, according to Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin’s F-22 program manager. The long-lead items on the Raptor need to be ordered about 30 months before they are installed on the airplane, Lawson said Tuesday at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington. The last of 183 planned Raptors rolls out of Lockheed’s Marietta, Ga. plant in 2011.
Golden Dome Details Begin to Emerge
Dec. 7, 2025
The Golden Dome air and missile defense shield to protect the United States will have some “operational capability” in 2028, the program’s leader said Dec. 6 at the Reagan National Defense Forum.

