pogo.org POGO Alert - F/A-22 Price Tag Skyrockets to $257 Million 4/11/2003 Project On Government Oversight

Contact: Beth Daley beth@pogo.org or Eric Miller defense@pogo.org (202) 347-1122

At a House hearing today, the General Accounting Office (GAO) testified that the per-plane cost of the F/A-22 has increased to $257.5 million apparently as a result of recent cost overruns. Previous estimates hovered at $200 million per fighter jet . POGO's Eric Miller also testified at the hearing (click here to view testimony), stating that "the F/A-22 essentially has become an aircraft without a mission" and that the program should be cancelled.

In a sign of the serious weight of the F/A-22 program's problems, General Accounting Office (GAO) head David Walker testified. (To see Walker's testimony click here). Walker estimated that the per aircraft cost of the F/A-22 fighter has now reached $257.5 million. "At a minimum, the F/A-22 should serve as a lesson learned from which to effect a change in the future Department of Defense acquisition environment," Walker said. "The costs of doing otherwise are simply too high for us to tolerate."

Walker also testified:

Technological problems discovered during F/A-22 testing have ranged from unexpected shutdowns of the aircraft's avionics to overheating in rear portions of the aircraft and separations of the horizontal tail material.
The reliability goal for the F/A-22 is 3 hours of flying time between maintenance actions, but as of November 2002 has sunk to 17.4 minutes between maintenance actions.
F/A-22 production costs are likely to increase more than the latest $5.4 billion cost growth estimate of the Air Force and Office of Secretary of Defense.

The General Accounting Office has issued two reports in recent weeks documenting uncontrolled cost overruns and technical difficulties in the program (see March 13 POGO Alert "GAO Report Says F-22 Costs Soaring Out of Control" and March 17 GAO report "Tactical Aircraft: DOD Should Reconsider Decision to Increase F/A-22 Production Rates While Development Risks Continue" .)

In its most recent report, the GAO recommended that the Secretary of Defense "reconsider the decision to increase the annual production rate of the F/A-22" in order to "minimize the risks of producing large quantities of aircraft that may require costly modifications." According to the GAO, increasing the F/A-22 production rate "is a high-risk strategy that could serve to further increase production costs."

POGO has published several reports on its investigations into the F/A-22. (Click here to view POGO's F/A-22 reports.) One report predicted that because of skyrocketing costs, the Air Force would only be able to purchase 100 to 175 F/A-22s to replace the fleet of 1,600 F-16s.

POGO investigates, exposes, and seeks to remedy systemic abuses of power, mismanagement, and subservience by the federal government to powerful special interests. Founded in 1981, POGO is a politically-independent, nonprofit watchdog that strives to promote a government that is accountable to the citizenry.


	April 11, 2003 F/A-22 Price Tag Skyrockets to $257 Million