Deputy SecDef: No more Raptors needed - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Deputy SecDef: No more Raptors needed

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England defended his position that the Air Force needs no more than 187 F-22 Raptors, saying Saturday that several Pentagon studies have concluded that number is sufficient to tackle future threats.

In recent months, senior Air Force officials have intensified their public campaign for 381 of the Lockheed Martin-made fighters. Senior Pentagon officials recently approved an Air Force plan to purchase four more Raptors, a move that will bring the planned buy to 191 warplanes. In a Jan. 14 letter to Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., England said the Department of Defense intends to keep the Lockheed Martin production line running via a 2009 supplemental funding request for more planes to replace war-related losses.

But sources with knowledge of internal Pentagon discussions say England has blocked the air service’s attempts to substantially increase the currently planned buy.

“All of the analysis points supports the fact that that is the right number … so that is the number we’re going to build,” England said under gloomy skies following a chilly christening ceremony for a new Navy destroyer here. “I know there are people who would like to build more, but we can’t support that by our analysis.”

Rumors have swirled for weeks about studies by England’s office of just how many Raptors will be needed. Sources have said those studies put the number at more than 190.

England denied that.

“That’s not the case. The analysis by the Department of Defense supports the right number is 180-something airplanes,” he said.

England said the decision to buy four more Raptors using supplemental funding would likely be the Bush administration’s final tinkering with the program. He noted it will be up to the next administration to decide whether to expand the buy closer to the 381 fighters the Air Force wants.