House committee cuts Raptor dollars, focuses on airmen

Released: 21 Jul 1999


by Staff Sgt. Michael Dorsey
Air Force Print News

WASHINGTON -- As Congress recommends slicing funds from the F-22 Raptor program, the Air Force is standing fast on its view that obtaining the next-generation air superiority fighter remains a necessity.

"Air superiority is our job one," Maj. Gen. Bruce Carlson, director of Air Force operational requirements, said in a Pentagon press conference July 15, the day before the House Appropriations Committee affirmed its subcommittee's proposed budget cut for the F-22 on Capitol Hill. "The F-22 has a series of characteristics that bring to the battlefield the capability to win and dominate both in the air and on the ground."

Carlson said the Raptor achieves air dominance because of its ability to attack deep in enemy territory and strike critical targets from a distance that puts fewer lives in danger. In addition to its stealth technology, the F-22's supercruise speed allows the aircraft to fly out of reach of mobile surface-to-air missiles and other air defense systems.

"We're not buying this airplane to win a war in 2000," said Carlson, explaining the aircraft supports the military's Joint Vision 2010 concept. "We're buying it for 2010 to 2030 and beyond."

But representatives on Capitol Hill are more concerned with the price tag of the F-22 program than the plane's advanced capabilities. The House Appropriations Committee cut $1.8 billion from the F-22 procurement budget and directed those funds to other programs.

According to pilots in the field, the time is now for bringing the F-22 on line.

"It's absolutely vital," said Lt. Colonel Brian Dickerson, who believes the Air Force is losing its edge. "The F-15 probably hurt the program because it's done so well. It has air-to-air superiority, but there are threats on the ground that can challenge the aircraft."

Dickerson, operations officer for the 94th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va., said the F-15 is an old and tired aircraft.

"The older a plane gets, the harder it is to get parts, and the training suffers," he said. "The number one thing that keeps us on top is the number one thing that's going away."

Dickerson added that while the F-16 Falcon has seen several engine variations throughout its life, F-100 Pratt Whitney engines have been in the F-15 since its inception. All the more reason why Maj. David Timm, weapons and tactics chief at Langley's 1st Fighter Wing, says it time to turn to a new aircraft.

"Everything wrong with the F-15 they fixed and made better in the F-22," said Timm, who has flown the F-15 for 16 years. "It's the same thing the Air Force did with the F-4 by bringing in the F-15. The F-22 rolls three aircraft (functions) into one (aircraft) -- electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defenses and air superiority."

Cutting the F-22 budget could spell the end of the program. At the very least, it would push the aircraft's initial operating capability back from 2005 to 2007 and add $6.5 billion to the program's cost.

At a cost of $187 million apiece, the Air Force plans to buy a total of 339 F-22s to replace the F-15 as their top fighter aircraft. When the program began in the mid-1980s, the Air Force projected buying more than 700 F-22s. The Bottom-Up Review slimmed that number down to 442 before the 1998 Quadrennial Defense Review took it down to the current figure of 339.

Air Force officials say the aging F-15 can do the job today. However, it faces increasing risk from advances in aircraft and missile technology available to potential enemies around the world.

The F-22, on the other hand, will combine stealth and supercruise with integrated avionics and precision to give pilots unparalleled air superiority for the next three decades. Carlson said that's why it is the Air Force's number one modernization priority.

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