Like the C-17 (see above), the DOD has opted to let the next Administration decide the fate of F-22 production. USAF’s Fiscal 2009 budget proposal includes no money to procure additional Raptors beyond the 183-aircraft program of record or to shut down the F-22 production line. Instead, the budget proposal provides almost $4.1 billion for the Raptor program, about $3.4 billion of which funds the final tranche of 20 Raptors under the current three-year multiyear procurement that brings the Air Force’s total buy to 183. “Because of that 20” and the potential for some additional Raptors to be purchased in Fiscal 2009 using emergency wartime supplemental appropriations, “there was no reason to program shutdown costs in FY ’09,” Vice Adm. Steve Stanley, director of Force Structure, Resources, and Assessment for the Joint Staff, told reporters during a Feb. 4 briefing on the new budget. “It also has the advantage of leaving a decision about F-22 to the next Administration, which will have to execute the program either way it goes.” (For more on the F-22, read Holding Pattern).
A recent seven-day exercise sent Air Force F-22s—along with other USAF aircraft—to austere, challenging environments across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Agile Reaper, taking place for the second time after its inaugural edition last year, featured 800 Airmen and 29 aircraft across five different locations from April 10-16, training…