In a ceremony that was both celebratory and bittersweet, Lockheed Martin delivered the final F-22 Raptor warplane – the "baddest bird on the planet," to the U.S. Air Force Wednesday morning en route to Alaska.
It marked the end of an era, that will see hundreds of workers and engineers at the Marietta plant refocus their attention elsewhere.
“The F-22 dramatically changed the way we did business here,” said Shan Cooper, a Lockheed Martin vice president and the general manager of the Marietta site. "We got to build and fly the baddest bird on the planet.”
With the likes of U.S. States Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Sen. Johnny Isakson participating, the ceremony focused on America’s military might. Parked majestically on a runway, the bright sun glistened off of the shiny hull of the $140 million jet.
Larry Lawson, executive vice president of aeronautics for Lockheed Martin, called the Raptor "an icon of American power,” which “transformed what is expected of a fighter aircraft."
Lockheed Martin started the Raptor program in 1991 with an initial goal to build 700 of the super-fast, super-stealthy fighter jets -- the most expensive ever built. After the base price, with upgrades and research and development costs, it is estimated that each plane actually comes in at about $412 million, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
But in 2009, the Pentagon announced that it was shutting down the F-22 program to coincide with increased orders for two cargo planes the plant also helps build or upgrade -- the C-130J and the C-5 -- as well as plans to ramp up production of another jet, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Ultimately, 195 Raptors were built.
The plane has been dogged with criticism about its costs and usefulness. Despite its unprecedented combination of stealth, maneuverability and firepower, it was never used in Iraq and is not deployed in Afghanistan.
Recently, several of the 200 trained F-22 pilots refused orders to fly the plane, as concerns continue to grow about the oxygen systems, which may have caused several pilots to experience oxygen deprivation symptoms in the air.
“We are fully engaged in supporting the Air Force in trying to understand exactly what is causing the problem and taking care of it," said Jeff Babione, vice president and general manager of the F-22 program. "I’m absolutely confident that we are going to find out and make changes necessary to eliminate this problem. This is a very complex problem."
As part of the ceremony, the plane’s “keys” were handed over from Gen. Schwartz to Lt. Col. Paul “Max” Moga, commander of the 525th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage.
By the numbers
F-22 Raptor facts
Built at three Lockheed facilities: Marietta (final assembly) Fort Worth, Texas, and Palmdale, Calif.
Operational fleet: 187; 195 total Raptors produced (8 as test planes)
5,600 Lockheed employees on project at peak period in 2005; 944 in Marietta;
F-22s based at: Langley Air Force Base, Va.; Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; Holloman AFB, N.M.; and Hickam AFB, Hawaii.
Raptor dimensions: 62 feet long; 16.67 feet tall; wingspan of 44.5 feet.
About the Author
