Lockheed Martin Cites Bomber, Anti-IED Raptor
By Michael Bruno
11/30/2005 09:23:30 AM
MARIETTA, Ga. - Lockheed Martin Corp. is working to further develop the F/A-22 Raptor's electronic attack (EA) capability, such as against improvised explosives devices (IEDs), and continues to envision a bomber version of the aircraft, executives told The DAILY and other reporters Nov. 28.
The executives said Block 30 Raptors will include a nonkinetic, existing EA capability, but they declined to discuss more during a press tour of company facilities here and in Fort Worth, Texas, citing classification restrictions.
"It has a capability," Larry Lawson, the executive vice president and F/A-22 general manager, said of the Block 20 aircraft being fielded now. Asked to comment by Lawson, J.R. McDonald, director of F/A-22 programs in Lockheed Martin's Washington operations, said the issue is "too classified" to elaborate.
Block 30 Raptors will add air-to-ground radar, better attack capabilities against integrated air defense systems, Link 16 data link and a core Small Diameter Bomb ability through 2009. The EA capability against IEDs, not one of the aircraft's main missions as originally outlined, comes as the company looks to solidify its advanced fighter's relevance over the next 40 years, especially while the United States engages in a global war on terrorism.
Lawson said few observers question any more whether the Raptor works as advertised. Instead, he said, they wonder about the fighter's role in an age of counterinsurgency operations and IEDs.
"That's not what it was designed to do," Lawson said. "The question is whether the F/A-22 is a Cold War relic, and the answer is absolutely not," he added.
Company executives are optimistic that orders for the F/A-22 won't end after 181 or fewer aircraft, as outlined by last year's Program Budget Decision 753 (DAILY, Nov. 29). Still, they declined to offer predictions about the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review, saying they don't know what it will forecast - but they highlighted the Raptor's superiority over the F-15 Eagle, which would be more vulnerable in an engagement against China over Taiwan.
As for a stealthy bomber version, one executive said Lockheed Martin envisions a larger variant capable of delivering 100,000 pounds of ordnance. The variant would benefit from several existing attack-fighter innovations, including payload doors that open, launch ordnance and close all within 1.5 seconds, minimizing the aircraft's radar signature.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman already have submitted long-range strike concepts to the Air Force in response to an April 2004 request for information (DAILY, April 5).
Meanwhile, the Raptor is on schedule for initial operating capability next month, the executives reiterated (DAILY, Nov. 22). "I don't know of any impediments," Lawson told reporters Nov. 28.
Source
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aerospacedaily_story.jsp?id=news/IED11305.xml
