NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The F-22A Raptor, an advanced stealth fighter jet in development since the 1980s, is ready for combat, the Air Force announced Thursday.
``If we have to go out the door to a conflict that starts tomorrow, we're going to take the Raptor with us,'' said Gen. Ronald E. Keys, head of Air Combat Command, at Langley Air Force Base.
The Raptor has reached ``initial operational capability,'' the Air Force said, meaning it is certified as ready to fight and supported by a properly trained and equipped force. It also means the aircraft is qualified to fly homeland defense missions, officials said.
The Air Force says the fighter will ensure America's air dominance for years to come.
Critics, however, say the Raptor is too expensive at a time when U.S. combat aircraft already dominate the skies, and that it was designed for a high-tech enemy that no longer exists - the Soviet Union.
Previously designated the F/A-22, the Raptor was intended primarily as a stealthy replacement for the F-15 Eagle, which was built to shoot down other planes. Unlike its predecessor, the Raptor can fly at supersonic speeds for long distances.
The Raptor is the most expensive aircraft in the Air Force's inventory, said Doug Karas, an Air Force spokesman in Washington.
The most recent Raptors, not including research and development, cost about $133 million each to produce, he said. With research, development and testing, the cost is about $350 million per aircraft, he said.
So far, the Air Force has 56 Raptors, including training and test fighters, at Langley, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and Edwards Air Force Base in California. The current budget plans include about 180, and the Air Force wants more, Karas said.
Twelve jets will head to Alaska in June for their first routine peacetime exercise deployment, Keys said. The first combat-ready Raptors are flying with the 27th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Wing, at Langley.
Analyst John Pike called the Raptor ``the greatest air-to-air fighter plane ever built.''
``You've got an airplane that the enemy cannot see that ... can maneuver around the sky very quickly,'' said Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a research center on security issues. ``You just would not want to go up against it because you would know that you would lose.''
It's too soon to tell whether the Raptor will be worth the expense, though, Pike said.
``You do have to wonder who we're going to use it against,'' he said.
Air Force fact sheet on Raptor: http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=199
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