The F/A-22 is to be an air superiority and ground attack aircraft with advanced features to make it less detectable to adversaries (stealth characteristics) and capable of high speeds for long ranges. It is designed to have integrated avionics that greatly improve pilots’ awareness of the situation surrounding them. The objectives of the F/A-22 development program are to (1) design, fabricate, test, and deliver nine F/A-22 development test aircraft, two non-flying structural test aircraft, six production representative test aircraft, and 37 flight-qualified engines; (2) design, fabricate, integrate, and test the avionics; and (3) design, develop, and test the support and training systems. The F/A-22 is being developed under contracts with Lockheed Martin Corporation, the prime contractor (for the aircraft), and Pratt & Whitney Corporation (for the engine). Following a history of increasing cost estimates to complete the development phase of the F/A-22 program, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 established a cost limitation for both the development and production. Subsequently, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2002 eliminated the cost limitation for the development, but left the cost limit for production cost in place. The production program is now limited to $36.8 billion. The current cost estimate of the development program is $21.9 billion. Currently, the F/A-22 program is in both development and production. Development is in its final stages, and low rate initial production has begun. Since fiscal year 1997, funds have been appropriated to acquire production aircraft, and the F/A-22 acquisition plan calls for steadily increasing annual production rates. The aircraft’s development problems and schedule delays have caused congressional concerns, particularly in light of DOD’s planned increase in production rates. The National Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2003 prohibited the obligation of funds for the acquisition of more than 16 production aircraft in fiscal year 2003, until the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics submits the following to the congressional defense committees: (1) a formal risk assessment that identifies and characterizes the potential cost, technical, schedule, or other significant risks resulting from increasing the F/A-22 production quantities prior to the Dedicated Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (DIOT&E) of the aircraft and (2) either a certification that increasing the F/A-22 production quantity for fiscal year 2003 beyond 16 aircraft involves lower risk and lower total program cost than staying at that quantity or implementing a revised production plan, funding, and test schedule. In December 2002, DOD submitted the risk assessment and certification to Congress. The F/A-22 developmental program did not meet key performance goals established for fiscal year 2002 and continues to confront numerous technical challenges. Major technical problems include instability of the avionics software, violent movement, or “buffeting,” of vertical fins, overheating in portions of the aircraft, weakening of materials in the horizontal tail, and the inability to meet airlift support and maintenance requirements. Modifications are being made to some test aircraft to address some of these problems in preparation for operational testing. Nevertheless, these problems continue to restrict the performance and testing of the F/A-22. Software instability has hampered efforts to integrate advanced avionics capabilities into the F/A-22 system. Avionics control and integrated airborne electronics and sensors provide an increased awareness of the situation around the pilot. The Air Force told us that the avionics have failed or shut down during numerous tests of F/A-22 aircraft due to software problems. The shutdowns occur when the pilot attempts to use the radar, communication, navigation, identification, and electronic warfare systems concurrently. Although the plane can still be flown after the avionics have failed, the pilot is unable to successfully demonstrate the performance of the avionics. Therefore, the Air Force has had to extend the test program schedule. The Air Force recognized that the avionics problems pose a high technical risk to the F/A-22 program, and in June 2002 the Air Force convened a special team to address the problem. According to the team, the unpredictable nature of the shutdowns was not surprising considering the complexity of the avionics system. The team recommended that the software be stabilized in the laboratory before releasing it to flight testing. The team further recommended conducting a stress test on the software system architecture to reduce problems and ensure that it is operating properly. The Air Force implemented these recommendations. Further, the Air Force extended the avionics schedule to accommodate avionics stability testing and now plans to complete avionics testing in the first quarter of 2005. However, Air Force officials stated that they do not yet understand the problems associated with the instability of the avionics software well enough to predict when they will be able to resolve this problem. Under some circumstances, the F/A-22 experiences violent movement, or buffeting, of the vertical fins in the tail section of the aircraft. This occurs as air, moving first over the body and the wings of the aircraft, places unequal pressures on the vertical fins and rudders. Unless the violent movement is resolved or the fins strengthened, the vertical fins will break over time because the pressures experienced exceed the strength limits of the fins. In addition, the buffeting problem has restricted the testing of aerial maneuvers of the aircraft. Lockheed Martin has developed several modifications to strengthen the vertical fins and has performed an analysis to test the structural strength of the aircraft. It concluded that no flight restrictions above 10,000 feet are necessary as a result of buffeting. Currently, the Air Force has not begun testing to verify flight operations at or below 10,000 feet; operational limitations at altitudes below 10,000 feet remain in effect, with testing scheduled to begin in June 2003. Overheating in the rear portions of the aircraft has significantly restricted the duration of high-speed flight testing. As the F/A-22 flies, heat builds up inside several areas in of the rear of the aircraft. Continued exposure to high temperatures would weaken these parts of the aircraft. For example, a portion of the airframe that sits between the engines’ exhausts experiences the highest temperatures. This intense heat could weaken or damage the airframe. To prevent this heat buildup during flight testing, the aircraft is restricted to flying just over 500 miles per hour, about the same speed as a modern jet liner, and significantly below the supercruise requirement. Currently, the F/A-22 flies with temperature sensors in those areas of the aircraft, and it slows down whenever the temperature approaches a certain level. The Air Force may add copper sheets to the rear of the aircraft to alleviate the problem. The Air Force began these modifications in January 2003 and plans to complete them by July 2003. F/A-22 aircraft have experienced separations of materials in the horizontal tail and the shaft, which allows the tail to pivot. Because the separations reduce tail strength, the Air Force restricted flight testing of some aircraft until it determined that this problem would not affect flight safety during testing. The Air Force and the contractor initially believed that improvements to the aircraft’s manufacturing process would solve this problem. However, the Air Force has determined that it could only solve this problem by redesigning the tail of the aircraft. The Air Force plans to conduct flight testing of the redesigned tail between February 2004 and April 2004. The Air Force estimates it will not meet the F/A-22 airlift support requirement despite last year’s estimate that it would meet all identified key performance parameters. (Appendix I contains a list of key performance parameters.) The airlift support requirement is that 8 C-141 aircraft or their equivalents would be sufficient to deploy a squadron of 24 F/A-22s for thirty days without resupply. Today the Air Force estimates that 8.8 C-141 equivalents will be necessary. The F/A-22’s performance may also be affected by maintenance needs that exceed established objectives. The Air Force estimates that the F/A-22 should, at this point in its development, be able to complete 1.67 flying hours between maintenance actions and 1.95 flying hours by the end of development. However, aircraft are requiring five times the maintenance actions expected at this point in development. As of November 2002, the development test aircraft have been completing only .29 flying hours between maintenance actions. Therefore, the development test aircraft are spending more time than planned on the ground undergoing maintenance. In addition, the F/A-22 program has not completed the testing required to prove the aircraft can be maintained worldwide without unique support equipment. For example, the Air Force planned to fly the F/A-22 a minimum of 650 hours prior to the start of operational testing to establish that special support equipment is not necessary to maintain the materials on the exterior of the aircraft. These materials are critical to the aircraft’s low observable, or stealthy, nature. However, as of December 2002, the program has only accomplished 191.6 hours. According to the Air Force, the program will not complete testing for this requirement until the completion of the development program, currently planned for July 2004. In 2002, the F/A-22 development program implemented several modifications to development aircraft to improve performance. The majority of modifications were related to installing the necessary upgrades to complete operational testing. The last three development test aircraft have required an average of 63 modifications. The first two production aircraft have required an average of 50 of these upgrades. In addition, the program repaired problems in the aircraft’s arresting gear system that were discovered during development testing. Further, the Air Force has scheduled modifications to address the previously cited problems found with the vertical tail of the aircraft (fin-buffeting). The Air Force included these repairs in its 2002 modification schedule, but did not begin them in 2002. The modifications will begin during fiscal year 2003.