July 17, 2007:
The U.S. Air
Force has saved about $400 million by agreeing to a three year procurement deal
for 60 F-22 fighters. These aircraft will cost about $167 million each to
build. Normally, procurement contracts are one year at a time, and this causes
manufacturers to buy components in smaller, and more expensive (per item)
quantities of parts. These sixty aircraft will complete the purchase of F-22s,
which has been capped at 183 aircraft (because of the high cost of each F-22).