By Michael Sirak

Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne said last week the Air Force would like to buy an additional 20 F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets on top of the current 183-aircraft program of record.

“Right now what I have asked to do is at least bridge over ’til we actually have a working fifth-generation F-35 line and at least allow me to get 20 additional F-22s,” the secretary told the House Armed Services Committee during testimony Oct. 24 on Air Force strategic initiatives.

While the additional 20 jets would still leave the Air Force “far below” its 381-aircraft requirement for the F-22, “it does allow me to begin to fill out some of my [Raptor] squadrons that are, in fact, in theaters that I worry about,” he said.

Lockheed Martin [LMT] builds the Raptor, along with industry partners Boeing [BA] and engine-maker Pratt & Whitney [UTX]. The Air Force has taken delivery of 104 F-22s to date. Already two combat-ready squadrons operate at Langley AFB, Va., and a third is being built up at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.

Lockheed Martin is currently in the sixth lot of Raptor production, which will take the program through the 123rd aircraft. However, the company is already under contract through lot 9 that will complete the orders for all 183, with deliveries stretching into 2011.

The final three lots–lot 7, lot 8 and lot 9–are part of the multiyear contractual arrangement signed earlier this year that will provide efficiencies and savings compared to three separate single-year contracts for the same 60 aircraft (Defense Daily, Aug. 1 and Aug. 2). During these lots, Lockheed Martin will build the aircraft at a rate of 20 per year. Lockheed Martin has said deliveries of lot 7 aircraft will begin in late 2008.

It is thought the Air Force would include an additional lot as part of the multiyear arrangement to reap the same cost benefits. When discussing the F-22 multiyear deal before Congress earlier this year, government officials testified that the greatest savings under multiyear deals, which normally run for up to five years, have historically been achieved during the fourth and fifth years.

Because of the F-22’s production cycle–roughly 30 months from ordering the materials and the nuts and bolts until completion of an aircraft–the Air Force would need to provide some long-lead funding in FY ’09 for any aircraft beyond 183 to ensure a smooth continuation of the Raptor production line.

While the Office of the Secretary of Defense capped the Raptor program at 183 aircraft in 2005 as a result of budget pressures, the Air Force’s stated requirement for 381 has not changed.

With a 183-aircraft fleet of Raptors, the Air Force plans to establish seven combat squadrons, each with 20 aircraft, and then use the remaining inventory as attrition reserve, dedicated training aircraft and for use in testing new F-22 capabilities and tactics.

Ideally, under the 381-aircraft construct, the Air Force would create 10 combat squadrons in addition to the reserve, training and test assets.

“You have one kind of strategy when you have 381 F-22s,” Wynne told the House panel Oct. 24. “You have another kind of strategy when you have 183.”

Wynne has said on many occasions keeping the F-22 production line active until the manufacture of the F-35, the nation’s only other modern stealth fighter, is stable, is a wise and prudent measure. Otherwise, the United States faces the risk of having no active production line for a modern fighter jet when a major conflicts breaks out.

As with the F-22, Lockheed Martin leads the industry consortium building the F-35. Its principal partners are BAE SYSTEMS and Northrop Grumman [NOC].

The Air Force wants to procure 1,763 F-35s to replace current fighters such as the F-16.

Wynne said last week there is a correlation between F-22 and F-35 numbers.

“With 1,763 F-35s, we want 381–we have asked for in our planning force 381 F-22s. So for we have been authorized 183 F-22s.”

“You have one kind of strategy when you have 1,763 F-35s,” he continued. “You have another strategy when that purchase is stretched out over 25 years.”

It is this “rate of access” to the F-35 that is also influencing the Air Force’s desire to buy more F-22s, Wynne said, echoing the concern that the service does not have the funding to procure the F-35s as quickly as it would like.