Forum: F-22A Raptor

This is from Flightglobal.

Five months after the US Congress approved the cancellation of the Lockheed Martin F-22, the air force is still deciding whether to preserve or scrap the production tooling.

The options under discussion include preserving at least the core of Lockheed's ability to build F-22 components and systems, although restarting production is not the USAF leadership's intent, says acquisition chief Lt Gen Mark Shackelford.

Rather, USAF officials are considering the cost of preserving tooling to sustain the F-22, which could include a service life extension programme in several years. The same tooling could also be used to repair or replace damaged Raptors.

Shackelford has not discussed the timeline for the USAF's decision-making process. Lockheed is scheduled to deliver the last of 187 F-22s in early 2012, although the long-lead elements of the supply chain could begin shutting down late this year.

The Obama administration in September defeated an attempt by F-22 supporters in Congress to continue building the advanced stealth fighter.

As lawmakers debated the issue from April to September, the USAF asked the Rand Project Air Force analytical team to study options to ending F-22A production. Rand's team briefed lawmakers on a draft report last June, and the final version of its report was published on 3 March.

The Rand team was asked to analyse four different options: shutting down production; continuing full production; scaling back to building five F-22s annually; and restarting production after a two-year delay.

Unless the Obama administration reverses course, the only option available now is to restart production after a two-year delay. Taking that step would itself require a dramatic policy change, and require the air force to preserve Lockheed's production capacity.

Rand's analysis shows that most of Lockheed's supply chain could be reactivated after two years, with very few suppliers leaving the market or going out of business because of the F-22 termination.

But the costs of restarting production after such a shutdown would increase significantly. Assuming a 75-aircraft production run over five years, the average unit cost per F-22 is $227 million. If production continued without stopping, the average is $173 million, according to the Rand study.

So, if the tooling is preserved, I guess that goes a long way towards aiding future Raptor upgrades. Does the RAND study provide any fuel for the Raptor restart gang...

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I believe in the FY11 bill there’s a provision for F-22 tool preservation already.

Thanks for posting this. To destroy the tooling would be a crime celebrated in Russian and China.

Destroying the tooling now would be like buying the most expensive TV you could then throwing the receipt and box away without waiting for the 30 day warranty to run out, at the very LEAST.

I vote to destroy all core component tooling and capability to extend life extensions / Raptor repairs, etc. Retire any USAF official who dissents.

No brainer. Everything will be fine in 2025, crystal ball tells.

geogen, Im not quite sure I follow...

(sarcasm)

Meh, hard to follow sarcasm on the net. especially at 6 in the morning.

We really need a [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] flag Wink

Hopefully they will preserve the tooling... I can't believe Obama/Gates would oppose even that.

I pray they preserve the tooling for the F-22A. But I fear Gates will try to destroy it as a threat to the F-111 - I mean F-35.

They should put it in a box next to the Ark of The Covenant.. LMAO

Honestly though... Everything's gonna cost some money here. Keeping production going, restarting production, preserving the tooling, even destroying the tooling is going to cost money. They have to look at, how far along are we to the next gen of stealth fighters, and what the cost would be of preserving the tooling just in case vs. not preserving the tooling. If say, they've got a sixth gen on the wings and projected first flight is before 2025, then yeah, I could see why they won't care to preserve the tooling. But if there's nothing in that time horizon... they'd be nuts to destroy it.

Tinito_16 wrote:

Honestly though... Everything's gonna cost some money here. Keeping production going, restarting production, preserving the tooling, even destroying the tooling is going to cost money. They have to look at, how far along are we to the next gen of stealth fighters, and what the cost would be of preserving the tooling just in case vs. not preserving the tooling. If say, they've got a sixth gen on the wings and projected first flight is before 2025, then yeah, I could see why they won't care to preserve the tooling. But if there's nothing in that time horizon... they'd be nuts to destroy it.

Don't forget the possibility that they ARE nuts. Sad

I don't get it really. The tooling is paid for. So for outside some storage cost, what is the problem? It can't be that difficulte to decide that you want to keep this in storage just in case. The money involved would be pennies on the dollar.

Forum: F-22A Raptor

The Preservation of F-22 Tooling