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187 Really Means 186
187 Really Means 186: A program of rec ord to buy 187 F-22s will actually leave the Air Force with 186 Raptors when the production run is complete after factoring F-22 losses to date, the service tells the Daily Report. The most recent crash of an F-22 in March at Edwards AFB, Calif., involved a test aircraft that was “not part of the official program of record,” according to Air Force spokeswoman Karen Platt. (That crash took the life of Lockheed Martin test pilot David Cooley.) Conversely, the non-fatal crash of an F-22 at Nellis AFB, Nev., in December 2004, did involve a Raptor that was a part of the program of record. The net loss to the program of record is one. “Therefore, the fleet will be 186 aircraft when complete,” said Platt. —Michael C. Sirak
5/6/2009
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Verbatim
No Dog, Just Concern
"You know it concerns me that we keep hearing, 'Well this is something that the military doesn't want. They didn't ask for,' and all that. Then I go over there [Southwest Asia theater], and that's not their attitude at all. They have needs over there. Our lift capacity is in dire straights. … Now on the F-22—just yesterday we read about the T-50 … a fifth generation [fighter] that the Russians have. … I'm concerned about this. And I guess, you know, if we're down to 187 F-22s, and I think out of that only—what 120 are actually combat ready and used for combat. … I look at our committee—the Senate Armed Services Committee—and on these two vehicles I mentioned—the F-22 and the C-17—in Oklahoma. I don't have a dog in that fight. We don't have any parochial interest there. But it's the capability that we're going to need."
—Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), speaking during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Fiscal 2011 defense budget, Feb. 2, 2010. |
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Verbatim
Taming Expectations
"Every QDR disappoints those who look for radical reallocation of resources. The current fiscal environment is compounding that trend."
—Jim Thomas, vice president for studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, briefing reporters in Washington, D.C., Jan. 26, 2010. |
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