Thread: More Hope For The F-22?

Could Chinese threat restore F-22 here?

Could Chinese threat restore F-22 here? | Puget Sound Business Journal

Observers may argue whether the recent first flight of China’s J-20 prototype stealth fighter means any imminent threat to U.S. air superiority.

But the new evidence of Chinese military aerospace prowess does raise the possibility of a future decision to resume building the U.S. top-of-the-line fighter, the F-22 Raptor, which is nearly at the end of its planned production run.

A number of pundits and press reports have recently weighed whether the U.S. will need more F-22s to counter the Chinese fighter if the latter actually evolves into a competitive aircraft and enters production.

Focusing on the possible Chinese threat will “inexorably lead to the conclusion that our Air Force needs to have more F-22s -- the only plane optimized for dealing with the kind of air power China seems to be pursuing,” said Loren Thompson, analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Lexington Institute, in a Jan. 13 piece.

Building more F-22s could be a good thing for the Puget Sound region, where currently about 1,000 Boeing workers are engaged in building the last F-22 composite wings and fuselage aft end, for delivery in June. While Lockheed Martin Corp. assembles the final aircraft, Boeing builds about one-third of the mostly composite airframe.

With its twin engines and ability to cruise at supersonic speeds, the F-22 is a substantially more powerful aircraft than the troubled but cheaper single-engine F-35, which is currently to become the dominant U.S. fighter.

Lockheed Martin also builds the F-35, after defeating a Boeing proposal in 2001 after a hotly fought competition.

The Chinese J-20 is certainly styled to look like the F-22 and therefore may be intended to be a competitor, which could mean a future production model of the Chinese plane would be superior to the F-35.

To be sure, right now it seems unlikely that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will re-start production of the expensive F-22 after having decided to limit the fleet to 195 aircraft, about half the original fleet. The last F-22 is currently to be delivered in 2012.

But Gates is planning to step down from his position this year, and the perception of a growing Chinese threat could change the political will.

With these possibilities in mind, the Air Force already has arranged for Lockheed Martin and Boeing to store 30,000 “major pieces” of the tooling and molds for the aircraft, at the Sierra Army Depot in California, said Lockheed Martin spokesman Chris McGee.

“The F-22 production line could be restarted after production ends, if necessary, but there would be a time gap involved, depending on when such a request were received,” said a statement from Lockheed Martin released by McGee.

If Lockheed Martin did restart production, there’s no telling what role Boeing might have.

An issue is that composites developmental work is displacing the remaining F-22 production in the legendary 9-101 building, also known as the Boeing Development Center, across from Seattle’s Museum of flight.

A “substantial portion” of the F-22 production floor space already has transitioned to Boeing Commercial Airplanes' new “Advanced Developmental Composites” organization, formed to advance Boeing's use of composite technologies.

“Additional floor space will be made available for BCA as (F-22) production completes in mid-2011,” said Boeing spokesman Paul Guse, in an email.

So if a Chinese threat spurs resumption of F-22 production, and if Boeing has a similar role, that program would have to find new floor space if it were to remain in the Puget Sound area



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