There seems to be some confusion over just when the Obama Administration must make the call on whether to continue production of the F-22 fighter force. Earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters that the final decision would not come until submission of the Fiscal 2010 defense budget, now set for mid-April. Almost everyone had considered the Congressionally directed March 1 date as the F-22 “go or no-go” deadline. Just last month, Pentagon boss Robert Gates told lawmakers that he wasn’t concerned about the price tag going up as the Pentagon slowed release of funds for long-lead items because the Lockheed Martin estimates were good until March 16 by which time President Obama would have made his decision on the F-22’s fate. Now, Morrell says he would “take issue with the characterization of “go or no-go” decision for March 1. On that day, he said, the Pentagon would have informed Congress of its intent to allocate the remainder of the long-lead funds. He added, “You will know when the FY ’10 budget is rolled out where the F-22 program is going, but not until that point.” (Morrell on F-22)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
