Nov 19, 2002 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Air Force said Monday it has replaced the top two managers of its F/A-22 stealth fighter program, which faces possible cutbacks by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Last week the Air Force announced that the F/A-22 program faced a potential cost overrun of $690 million. It appointed a team of technical and financial experts from industry and the Air Force to investigate.

Initial findings of the investigation, led by an official at the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, are due by the end of the month. The Air Force said last week that the added costs did not indicate any problem with the plane’s advanced technology or its performance in test flights.

The F/A-22, which has been in development for more than a decade, is intended to replace the F-15 Eagle fleet of ground-attack planes. The F/A-22, nicknamed the Raptor, is one of several high-cost programs that Rumsfeld has been reviewing for months with an eye to possible cutbacks, consolidations or even cancellations.

The Air Force had planned to buy 339 of the planes, but some in Rumsfeld’s office have suggested cutting that to 180.

Congress has set a cost limit of $37 billion on the program.

Monday’s announcement said Brig Gen. Mark D. Shackleford, director of the F/A-22 program office at the Aeronautical Systems Center, was replaced by Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Owen, who has held the equivalent job in the C-17 Globemaster program. The C-17 has been one of the Air Force’s most successful programs.

The top F/A-22 program officer at the Pentagon, Brig. Gen. William J. Jabour, was replaced by Brig. Gen. Richard B.H. Lewis, who has been director of the Joint Theater Air and Missile Defense Organization.

In announcing the changes, Air Force Secretary John Roche made no mention of the $690 million cost overrun.

Roche said that he and Gen. John Jumper, the Air Force chief of staff, reviewed all aspects of the program.

“When necessary we’ve made changes to ensure the success of this critical contributor to America’s joint warfighting capability,” Roche said. Lewis and Owen, he added, “have the right operational requirements expertise and technical backgrounds to bring the program into its next phase” by next summer.

Jumper praised Shackleford and Jabour for their efforts but said he and Roche decided “new leadership was necessary.”

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On the Net:

F/A-22 Raptor: http://www.f22-raptor.com/