F 22

The Pentagon announced that it awarded a contract worth as much as $7.4 billion to aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp. to upgrade the Air Force's problem-plagued fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The announcement said that the Bethesda, Md., company would "add new capabilities and enhance the performance of the aircraft. " Lockheed referred all questions about the contract to the Air Force, which said it could not provide details about the upgrade announced Friday. The F-22, which costs an estimated $412 million each, is the military's most expensive fighter jet and known to be its most advanced.

The U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jets have been cleared for takeoff after a government safety investigation grounded the entire fleet for more than four months. The Air Force said that all 170 F-22s will be inspected before flight operations resume. The fleet was put out of service May 3 after a dozen incidents since April 2008 in which pilots' oxygen was cut off. It is the latest issue for the F-22, which cost an estimated $412 million each, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office's latest report, and have not been used in combat since entering service in 2005.

It's the most expensive fighter jet ever built. Yet the F-22 Raptor has never seen a day of combat, and its future is clouded by a government safety investigation that has grounded the jet for months. The fleet of 158 F-22s has been sidelined since May 3, after more than a dozen incidents in which oxygen was cut off to pilots, making them woozy. The malfunction is suspected of contributing to at least one fatal accident. At an estimated cost of $412 million each, the F-22s amount to about $65 billion sitting on the tarmac.

The Democratic-controlled House went along with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' plans to kill the over-budget F-22 fighter jet but has rejected his efforts to cut off several other big-ticket items.

In a political victory for the Obama administration -- and a surprising defeat for some lawmakers in both parties -- the Senate voted Tuesday to halt further production of the Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The 58-40 vote on an amendment to the $680-billion defense authorization bill called for stripping out the $1.75 billion set aside for construction of seven more of the jets. The F-22, which has not been used in Iraq or Afghanistan, has come under particular scrutiny for its price tag.

Intensifying a fight over the fate of the military's F-22 stealth fighter jets, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that the push by lawmakers for additional planes -- against the Pentagon's recommendation -- actually risks making America more vulnerable.

The White House threatened to veto legislation authorizing a $680-billion military budget if it contains money for jet fighters the Pentagon doesn't want. The White House Office of Management and Budget said the $369 million that a House committee added as a down payment for 12 additional F-22 fighters runs counter to the "collective judgment" of the military's top leaders.

A veteran test pilot was killed Wednesday when an F-22 Raptor, an Air Force fighter plane designed to provide "air dominance" with its missiles and cannons, crashed in the high desert outside Edwards Air Force Base. The pilot was identified as David Cooley, 49, a 21-year Air Force veteran who joined Lockheed Martin Corp., the plane's principal contractor, in 2003. Cooley, of Palmdale, was pronounced dead at Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville.

The F-22 Raptor is sex on carbon fiber wings. This is America's premier air superiority fighter, and it's a bad, bad monkey. At an F-22 demonstration at the Reno Air Show in September, I nearly passed out from testosterone poisoning. If you're at an advertising firm -- say, Keiler & Co. of Farmington, Conn., the agency of record for Lockheed Martin Corp. -- and the product you're promoting is this sky-shredding death kite, you might expect to knock off early.