Pentagon OKs Full-Rate F/A-22 Production, Global Hawk upgrades
The Pentagon on April 17 formally announced that the U.S. Air Force’s F/A-22 fighter has been cleared for full-rate production and approved a series of electronic upgrades to the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle.
The decisions, signed by Defense Department acquisition chief Mike Wynne on April 15, comes as the Quadrennial Defense Review debates the future of both programs.
The full-rate decision on F/A-22 is among the conflicting signals surrounding the program.
Although Wynne cleared the F/A-22 to enter full-rate production, a high-level budget review late last year cut the overall number of the planes to be purchased by one-third to about 180 jets. Some analysts and top service officials fear that if numbers are cut further unit prices will skyrocket, making the Air Force’s top modernization priority unaffordable.
The program was cleared for low-rate production in August 2001, with about 40 planes delivered to date — about 20 last year — and 83 jets under contract.
As for Global Hawk, Wynne has allowed the Air Force to use research and development funding for two key enhancements: the Advanced Signals Intelligence Program and the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program. The moves ensure there is no break between production of the A and B models of the aircraft.
In his Global Hawk Acquisition Decision Memoranda — in the wake of a March 14 Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) meeting — Wynne directed the Air Force “to return before the end of 2005 to present an Interim Program Review” to the DAB.
Defense News