Air Force gives Pentagon new F-22 purchase plan

By Jim Wolf

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force's top general said Thursday he had put forward a fresh request for top-of-the-line F-22 fighter jets that would postpone an otherwise-imminent start to shutting down Lockheed Martin Corp's production line.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told reporters he had presented the revised plan to Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week. He declined to elaborate on their discussion.

"Until he renders a decision (on the fate of the F-22), I'd prefer to keep the content of that conversation between the (Air Force) secretary and myself and Secretary Gates," he told reporters after speaking to an Air Force Association symposium in Orlando, Florida.

Lockheed Martin has said it plans to start shutting down the F-22 production line as early as next week unless President Barack Obama decides to buy more than the 183 aircraft now budgeted for.

Schwartz said February 18 that the Air Force had scaled back its previous goal of acquiring a total of 381 F-22s. He said he would not differ with Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had said earlier the Air Force was seeking 60 more, or a total of about 243.

Asked about the size of the fleet the Air Force is now seeking, Schwartz said Thursday: "We ran the numbers, validated the assumptions, and came to the conclusion that we did."

The radar-evading F-22 Raptor is the most advanced fighter in the U.S. arsenal, most recently costing about $143 million apiece, not including development.

It has become the focus of a debate about hedging for large-scale wars versus fighting guerrillas in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and a lightning rod among arms programs in the deteriorating U.S. economy.