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Spend F-22 money on F-15s, Pentagon says

The Pentagon’s top budget official told the Air Force this week to hold off spending $497 million in fiscal 2009 to begin shutting down the F-22 production line and spend it instead on repairing F-15s, two-thirds of which are grounded.

USA Today reported that Pentagon Comptroller Tina Jonas informed Air Force leaders of the change in a memo this week.

An Air Force official, speaking on background, confirmed Friday that the service has been directed by the Pentagon to reprogram the funds, but the official did not immediately have further details.

More than 400 F-15s remain grounded after the Nov. 2 crash of an F-15C, but the Air Force has not announced whether large-scale repairs will be necessary. An investigation into the crash is ongoing.

The move appears to be a change of course for the Pentagon, which another Air Force official recently said had given the Air Force permission to use the funds to purchase long-lead-time items so the Air Force and Congress could have the option of buying an additional 20 aircraft beyond the currently authorized 183.

Congress originally suggested the idea in the report accompanying the 2008 defense spending bill.

If the funds are instead rerouted to pay for F-15 repairs, it is unclear how that might affect the future of the F-22 line.

Lockheed Martin is under contract to deliver in 2011 the last of the 183 F-22s ordered, but the Air Force has long maintained that it needs 381 of the aircraft. F-22s cost an inflation-adjusted $195 million each, not including research and development.