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On 9 June 2017, the USAF submitted their report stating they had no plans to restart the F-22 production line due to cost-prohibitive economic and logistical challenges; it estimated it would cost approximately $50 billion to procure 194 additional F-22s at a cost of $206–216 million per aircraft, including approximately $9.9 billion for non ...
The production engines were fitted on the production F-22, and were first flown on the F-22's maiden flight on 7 September 1997. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] A total of 507 engines were produced. [ 10 ] The F119 Heavy Maintenance Center (HMC) for depot overhaul is located at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, with the first overall completed in 2013.
The last of 3,620 F-16s was built there in late 2017 after more than 39 years and then production moved to another factory in Greenville, South Carolina. In March 1992 Lockheed began to produce F-22 Raptor aircraft components at the facility. Additionally, the plant produces spare aircraft parts, radar units, and missile components.
An F-22 Raptor assigned to the 411th Flight Test Squadron flies over Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 2018. The squadron successfully tested the F-22 flying on a 50/50 fuel blend of conventional petroleum-based JP-8 and biofuel derived from camelina, a weed-like plant not used for food, in March 2011. The overall test objective was to ...
Since then, the plant has supported facilities for the production, engineering, final assembly and flight testing of high performance aircraft. During the 1980s it was used by Lockheed to produce the U-2/TR-1 and support the SR-71. Northrop produced the F-5E, and Rockwell supported the B-1B Lancer.
This allowed USAF to use the existing export production line to quickly and affordably bring fighters into operational service, as restarting the F-22 line was considered cost-prohibitive. [50] [104] In 2022, it was announced the USAF plan to retire their fleet of F-15C/Ds by 2026, while the F-15Es would retire in the 2030s. [105]
The 477th Fighter Group was reactivated on 1 October 2007 as the first Air Force Reserve unit to fly, maintain, and support the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.The group is an associate unit responsible for recruiting, training, developing and retaining Citizen Airmen to support 3d Wing and Air Force expeditionary unit mission requirements.
The Lockheed Martin FB-22 was a proposed supersonic stealth bomber aircraft for the United States Air Force, derived from the F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter. Lockheed Martin proposed its design in the early 2000s with support from certain Air Force leaders as an interim "regional bomber" to complement the aging U.S. strategic bomber fleet, whose replacement was planned to enter service ...