Lockheed Martin rolled out the first F-22A stealth fighter destined for Pacific Air Forces on Monday. Raptor #4087 will go to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, which expects to field its first squadron of 18 by January 2008. Attending a small rollout ceremony at Lockheed’s Marietta, Ga., production facility, Brig. Gen. Carlisle, commander of Elmendorf’s 3rd Wing, took note of the “great Americans” in uniform or blue jeans who build the F-22.
A record investment in research and development by the Department of the Air Force will help the United States win the long-term technology race with China, even while shrinking the fleet size before a possible mid-decade Taiwan contingency, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said May 17. “With the Air Force,…