More F-22s for USAF?

[ORAC]

I wonder if this ties into the problems with the F-15 fleet? And how many billions are they talking about?

Murtha: Congress May Add F-22s in ’08 or ’09 Supplementals

The House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel is talking with U.S. Air Force officials about adding money to buy more F-22 Raptor strike fighters, said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the subcommittee’s chairman.

The money, which would likely run into the hundreds of billions of dollars, would be appropriated in the 2008 or 2009 supplemental, Murtha said at a Washington conference on defense procurement hosted by Aviation Week.

Murtha complained the service is wasting too much money to keep older fighters in the air. Instead, he said, the U.S. should be buying new jets.

After Murtha’s talk, an aide said these jets would be beyond the four included in the 2009 budget request.

“Four doesn’t get you anywhere” — meaning four planes would not keep the production line open beyond the current contract, the Murtha aide said.

Asked how many more would be needed to keep the line open, the aide said, “Twenty a year is where we’ve been for a while.”