The Salt Lake Tribune August 17, 2009
Defense cuts won't kill F-22 program in Utah
By Matthew D. LaPlante
Hill Air Force Base » To supporters of the Air Force's most advanced strike fighter, Congress' shift toward ending future production of the F-22 Raptor represents a lack of commitment to U.S. military dominance and a disregard for tens of thousands of good-paying jobs during a time of recession.
To long-time opponents of the costly Raptor, the White House's leadership -- and Congressional complicity --- in ending the program has been a breath of fresh air. Taking the critical lead, the New York Times editorial board lauded the end of the days in which "precious tax dollars" are spent on "glitzy, self-indulgent toys."
But the view from Hill Air Force Base, which does much of the maintenance on the stealthy fighters, supports neither extreme. While it is true that the F-22 maintenance program at the northern Utah base will not grow in the ways some local leaders had hoped, there is little worry among program officials that jobs at Hill will be lost as a result of the recent legislative decisions.
In fact, the program is still growing.
And while the end of F-22 production might indeed open the door for another nation to take a run at American-style air superiority, the 145 Raptors that the Air Force currently has on hand -- along with 42 more that are paid for and en route -- will help assure that the U.S. will own the skies for decades to come.
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Utah jobs safe » More than 100 employees are dedicated to maintenance of the F-22 at Hill, and many more have a part-time role. Several dozen additional jobs are expected to be created at Hill's 508th Aerospace Sustainment Wing as the 42 additional Raptors come online.
The Raptor, which costs between $140 million and $340 million per plane, depending on how costs are calculated, and which costs more than $40,000-an-hour to fly, will be a part of the Air Force's fighter fleet -- and have a presence in Utah -- for years to come.
"Regardless of the latest discussion on numbers of Raptors, at Hill we've got a standing plan to man up with people and facilities and capacity to support 187 Raptors through the plane's planned life," said Lt. Col. Tim Molnar, F-22 system support manager at the base's 508th Aircraft Sustainment Wing.
At least 44 states have a part in producing the Raptor -- which has led some critics to charge that Lockheed Martin, which builds the jets, has spread the workload into dozens of legislative districts to "cancel proof" the program. In lobbying Congress to buy more of its fighters, Lockheed unleashed a media blitz decrying the potential loss of tens of thousands of jobs, including those at Alliance Techsystems' carbon fiber fabrication division in Clearfield.
But ATK company spokesman Bryce Hallowell told The Salt Lake Tribune earlier this year that increases in other programs, notably the F-35 Lightning -- which the Air Force plans to buy more than 1,000 of -- should offset any losses from the F-22.
Recently announced job cuts in Utah, company officials have stressed, are related to cuts in the company's NASA contracts and a slowdown in contracts for ballistic missile motors, not the Raptor program.
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Air superiority debate » Capitol Hill supporters, including several from Utah, have challenged the notion that 187 Raptors is enough. They've pointed to past reports that have concluded that the U.S. needs at least 240 of the jets.
In his defense of the jet, Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch invoked the spirit of a Lockheed promotional video. "Fast and unseen, the Raptor will punch a hole in an enemy's defenses, quickly dispatching any challenger in the air and striking at the most important ground targets," he said.
Although he's taken the lead in ending F-22 production, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has conceded that the jet serves an important role in "one of two potential scenarios -- specifically the defeat of a highly advanced enemy fighter fleet."
Because no such fleet exists, Gates and other Raptor critics have said, it is senseless to spend billions on the program, particularly while the U.S. is engaged in two wars in which the Raptor has not been called into service.
As such, Gates believes, 187 Raptors is more than enough for now.
Military analyst John Pike has been inclined to agree with Gates in the past. But Pike, who once said the Raptor was "utterly unrelated to any plausible threat," said he's "come around on the Raptor."
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The SU-27 threat » Pike, who runs the defense information clearinghouse Globalsecurity.org, noted that the Raptor was designed, in large part, to counter the potential threat of advanced multirole fighters like Russia's SU-27 Flanker. While that threat subsided with the fall of the Soviet Union, Pike said, China has since contracted with Russia for the purchase of hundreds of Flankers --and is building hundreds more under a contract to co-produce the advanced fighter with its Moscow manufacturer.
"The Chinese have continued to build Flankers, and really show no sign of stopping," he said. "So what I have concluded is that, if you had twice as many Raptors, it would probably be somewhat harder for the Chinese to catch up."
But Pike isn't ready to sound an alarm about the end of American air dominance. He asserts the idea that there is a "magic number" of Raptors that would secure air-to-air supremacy is a likely concoction of those who wish to sell the U.S. military more expensive weapon systems. And in any case, Pike said, he has trouble viewing China as a military threat in the same way as Russia was.
Some critics "love to worry about 'Communist Red China,' " Pike said. "But I have a hard time figuring out how we would get into a war with China."
And Pike figures the U.S. has some time to recover if canceling future production of the jet turns out to be a mistake. How long?
"Perhaps until 2050," he said.
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