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Air Force photo by SrA. Russell Scalf

Buying an additional 75 F-22 stealth fighters beyond the current 183-aircraft program of record likely would cost between $13.7 billion and $19 billion out to 2016, depending on the production schedule that the Air Force chooses, according to a new RAND study. Here, two F-22s of the 7th Fighter Squadron fly over White Sands National Monument, N.M., on their way to Holloman Air Force Base, their new home, June 2, 2008.

Verbatim

To Be Clear
“Just like in my business, the issues that go badly get all of the attention. I think, to be clear with you, there are many things that are managed well every day in the Air Force.”
—John Young, Pentagon acquisition executive, speaking to defense reporters on the state of Air Force acquisition, Washington, D.C., Nov. 20, 2008.

Verbatim

F-22 Options
“They have two choices. On January 21st, they can obligate the $90 million and decide there's some chance ... that they will buy the airplanes and they'd rather preserve the option to buy [them] at no additional cost to the taxpayer. Or, they could chose not to obligate the $90 million and accept that they still have a decision to be made between then and March 1st. But that decision may cost the taxpayer more money.”
—DOD acquisition czar John Young on how releasing only $50 million of the $140 million authorized by Congress to keep the F-22 production line active until March 2009 still preserves options for the new Administration, Capitol Hill, Nov. 19, 2008.