Obama Pentagon could face billions in bills for F-22

Barack Obama’s administration will have to pay billions of dollars to buy and maintain more F-22 Raptor fighter jets demanded by Congress, according to the Pentagon’s current acquisitions chief.

“The airplane is proving very expensive to operate and it’s complex to maintain,” said John Young, who heads the Pentagon’s acquisition arm. The cost of the plane’s maintenance “is too high,” he told reporters in the defense writers group on Thursday.

{mosads}The Pentagon and Congress have been at odds over how many more F-22s the Air Force should buy. Senior lawmakers from both parties on the House Armed Services Committee want the Pentagon to buy more F-22s, but the Pentagon is resisting.

Young, a former Senate defense appropriations staffer, said that the discussion about high maintenance and operations cost should take place before deciding whether to buy more F-22s. He also noted the F-22’s most recent mission capability rating was about 62 percent. “I think that is troubling,” he added. He added that the cost of the plane’s maintenance per flying hour has increased.

The cost of the F-22 Raptors could be a factor for Obama, who will take over a government plunging deeper and deeper into debt because of the nation’s financial crisis. The president-elect also wants to move forward on a dramatic reform of the nation’s healthcare system, which could be expensive, and has promised to deliver tax cuts to 95 percent of Americans.

Obama has not revealed a clear position on buying more F-22s.

The Pentagon wants to bring the 183 planes it already plans to buy to a high-end, more capable configuration. That alone would cost $6.3 billion in research and development costs, plus another $2 billion to modify all the jets. The $8 billion would be for the jets already on the budget, Young stressed. Any more above that would cost more.

Senior House lawmakers on Wednesday slammed the Pentagon’s decision to purchase parts for only four additional F-22 fighter jets despite what they said was a clear congressional directive to provide money to buy components for more aircraft.

Congressional staff has said the costs of purchasing and operating F-22s could be even higher than what is currently projected because of maintenance costs.

The Air Force has discovered corrosion problems on the existing fleet of fighters, raising concerns among staff aides that the problem may be more pervasive than anticipated. Techniques that give the plane its stealth to avoid radar detection have reportedly contributed to the corrosion problem.

Lockheed Martin, which is contracted to build the F-22s, maintains that the issue is under control and that the company has found the solution to fix the problem.

“The corrosion was identified nearly two years ago; corrective action is in place during routine depot work with no impact to fleet life,” said Sam Grizzle, a Lockheed Martin spokesman.

The Pentagon last week announced it would provide Lockheed Martin up to $50 million to purchase parts for four additional F-22 fighters. Congress had authorized $140 million to be spent by the Pentagon on “long-lead items” — so called because they take a long time to produce — in the 2009 defense bill.

Overall, Congress appropriated $523 million in the 2009 defense spending bill to purchase parts for an additional 20 F-22s. But lawmakers also fenced off $383 million of that money until the new administration certifies that it wants to continue buying the F-22. If not, the money would be used to shut off Lockheed’s production line in Marietta, Ga.

In announcing the decision to allocate only $50 million, Pentagon officials said they would request additional money to buy the four fighters in the war-supplemental request. It isn’t clear how much the Pentagon will request to buy the fighters in the war supplemental, but each plane costs $142 million.

In its 2009 budget request, the Pentagon did not include money to keep producing the F-22, or to shut down the production line at Lockheed’s plant. But Air Force and industry officials have lobbied Congress and the Pentagon heavily to extend production of the Raptor.

That production is slated to end after 2011, when Lockheed Martin is scheduled to deliver the last of 183 aircraft. The Air Force told Congress earlier this year that it would need up to 250 F-22s to maintain air superiority.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is rumored to be under consideration to keep his post during the first months of the Obama administration, opposes buying more F-22s and favors buying the multinational, multiservice Joint Strike Fighter, an aircraft in development that is expected to be cheaper than the F-22.

The article was updated at 4:26 p.m.