The high maintenance love affair with the F-22

The Hill:

Barack Obama’s administration will have to pay billions of dollars to buy and maintain more F-22 Raptor fighter jets demanded by Congress, according to the Pentagon's current acquisitions chief.

“The airplane is proving very expensive to operate and it’s complex to maintain,” said John Young, who heads the Pentagon’s acquisition arm. The cost of the plane's maintenance “is too high,” he told reporters in the defense writers group on Thursday.

The Pentagon and Congress have been at odds over how many more F-22s the Air Force should buy. Senior lawmakers from both parties on the House Armed Services Committee want the Pentagon to buy more F-22s, but the Pentagon is resisting.

Young, a former Senate defense appropriations staffer, said that the discussion about high maintenance and operations cost should take place before deciding whether to buy more F-22s. He also noted the F-22’s most recent mission capability rating was about 62 percent. “I think that is troubling,” he added. He added that the cost of the plane's maintenance per flying hour has increased.

The cost of the F-22 Raptors could be a factor for Obama, who will take over a government plunging deeper and deeper into debt because of the nation’s financial crisis. The president-elect also wants to move forward on a dramatic reform of the nation’s healthcare system, which could be expensive, and has promised to deliver tax cuts to 95 percent of Americans.

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The Pentagon wants to bring the 183 planes it already plans to buy to a high-end, more capable configuration. That alone would cost $6.3 billion in research and development costs, plus another $2 billion to modify all the jets. The $8 billion would be for the jets already on the budget, Young stressed. Any more above that would cost more.

Senior House lawmakers on Wednesday slammed the Pentagon’s decision to purchase parts for only four additional F-22 fighter jets despite what they said was a clear congressional directive to provide money to buy components for more aircraft.

Congressional staff has said the costs of purchasing and operating F-22s could be even higher than what is currently projected because of maintenance costs.

The Air Force has discovered corrosion problems on the existing fleet of fighters, raising concerns among staff aides that the problem may be more pervasive than anticipated. Techniques that give the plane its stealth to avoid radar detection have reportedly contributed to the corrosion problem.

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The B-2 has also had maintenance issues associated with the stealth characteristics. What this suggest is that stealth may work in specialized missions but it may be too expensive in a plane expected to operate in day to day situations.

This could be just another story pushed by opponents of the plane that have pushed back against the Air Force request for even more F-22s. It does highlight the political problems associated with the plane that go with its corrosion problems.