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Marietta made F-22 Raptor killed by DoD
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Monday that the Pentagon will not renew any orders for the F-22 Raptor fighter jets, made by Lockheed Martin in their Marietta, Georgia, plant.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates takes reporters' questions at a Pentagon
news conference, Monday, April 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
"The military advice that I got," Gates said, "was that there is no military requirement for numbers of F-22s beyond the 187 [already ordered]."
The F-22 costs around $150 million, per plane, to build. Over 140 of the aircraft have already rolled off the line in Marietta. According to the company, the remaining Raptors on the contract will be completed by the end of 2011.
According to Aeroflight's "Aircraft of the World," Lockheed won the contract for the jet from the US Air Force eighteen years ago, and produced the first F-22 in 1997. The defense contractor now describes the F-22 Raptor as, "America’s most prominent air-superiority fighter."
Lockheed Martin is Marietta's raison d'etre. After World War II, as Martin Marietta, the aircraft company transformed the sleepy town, less than 20 miles northwest of Atlanta, into a major metro suburb. Lockheed merged with the Marietta based company in 1994. At the time, it was the largest such pairing in the defense aviation industry, designed to get both companies through the post Cold War 90s.
Marietta's mayor, Bill Dunaway, told WABE radio, that Secretary Gates' decision is "a very serious error." He went on to say that his concern was not about the potential job loss, as much as "our national defense."
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), in a joint statement with Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), called the decision "imprudent." Isakson said that he too was "severely disappointed" in the administration, and also voiced his concern over the loss of jobs locally and "potentially 95,000 jobs nationwide," including part suppliers and those who work to maintain the aircraft at various airbases around the country.
Isakson went on to vow that he and Chambliss "will be taking the case of the F-22 to members of Congress and the Appropriations Committees."
The Miami Military Health Care Examiner delineates Secretary Gates' budget proposals specific to caring for the health of the military and their families.
The Right Side Politics Examiner lists the defense cuts that are part of the administration's "restructuring."
Special Report: Obama's First 100 DaysExclusive examiner.com coverage of the Obama administration's promise to bring about change.
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