The United States Air Force (USAF) recently released more details about its plans to upgrade F-22A fighters, from the Block 20 series, the first produced by Lockheed Martin, and without major upgrades present in the Block 30 and 35 version.
The estimate of spending on the upgrade came from a request by the US Congress, after the USAF requested the retirement of 33 Block 20 aircraft, used only in training. Deputies refused retirement, and asked for a budget to upgrade these aircraft.
The Brigadier General Dale White, responsible for this project, then said that the Air Force has already sought a quote with updated prices from Lockheed Martin, the aircraft manufacturer. The new prices will be announced in September.
In 2019 estimates, presented at the time by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, the manufacturer estimated it would need $2 billion to upgrade the 33 F-22A Block 20 aircraft.
On the other hand, the military prefers to direct spending to upgrade F-22 fighters of newer versions, and to develop a new advanced US fighter, the NGAD, and 6th generation unmanned platforms. The development of the NGAD could consume US$1,7 billion of the budget in 2023 alone.
The 5th generation fighter created throughout the 90's currently has 186 units in the USAF fleet. The plan is to retire them all by 2039, if the development of the NGAD is as fast as the first prototype.
The F-22 has been publicized several times in the press and by the US Air Force itself as a revolutionary aircraft, however, the counterpart of all this advancement for more than 20 years has been a very high production cost, together with a high cost of keep the fighter in the fleet.
Something that can help reduce the operating costs of the new NGAD is the new engine developed by GE Aviation, which promises to reduce fuel consumption by up to 25% without affecting performance.
Currently, Lockheed Martin does not manufacture the F-22, and all the tools are stored to avoid transferring the technology to other countries, which make their own “competing” versions of the F-22, such as the Su-57, from Russia, and the J-20 from China.
