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The F-22 rolled out to the public with rousing marches from the US Air Force Band and honor guard, patriotic songs, big-screen video presentations, a breath-taking laser light show, and Lee Greenwood singing "Proud To Be An American." When the large curtain lifted away from center stage, the 3,000 people gathered in Marietta, Georgia, for the 9 April debut got their first glimpseof the first air-dominance fighter. Shortly before the unveiling, military, Congressional, and industrial leaders shared their views on the F-22, officially dubbed Raptor at the event. Their comments are excerpted here

Bill Clinton
President of the United States
(from a letter read by US Representative Max Cleland)

Today marks a major milestone in the defense of our nation. The introduction of the F-22 Raptor air dominance fighter culminates over ten years of dedicated hard work by thousands of people across the country, the vision and long-range planning of Congressional leaders, and the leadership of three presidents. But perhaps more than anything else, it is proof positive of the know-how and can-do spirit of America’s most valuable asset, the American work force.

Today’s ceremony is more than just a rollout of a new fighter aircraft. It is a tribute to the American worker and testimony to the skill and training and dedication of our people. Across forty-six states and in hundreds of companies, large and small, these men and women have come together to produce this catalyst for revolution in air power. I am proud to salute all those who have gathered for this event and wish everyone associated with the F-22 much success as it moves into the flight test phase of its development program.

Newt Gingrich
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives

Some will question why we should invest in a very expensive next-generation air- dominance machine when, after all, we could continue the F-15 or the F-16 or other aircraft. Or we could combine them. Let me say first of all that no pilot whose life will be in danger and no family of a pilot whose life will be in danger will approve of a strategy which, in order to be cheap now, costs the lives of courageous Americans at a later date.

The fact is, by procuring the best weapons in the world, we save the most lives. Take Desert Storm. Was the F-15, the F-16, the AWACs team more expensive than what the Iraqis had? Yes. Did that guarantee that the Iraqis couldn’t fly? Yes. Did that guarantee that we could destroy the Iraqi Army? Yes. Did that save thousands of American lives? Yes. Was it worth the investment over a generation to have thousands of men and women return alive who would otherwise be dead? You had better believe it. And that is what we are committed to.

We want the finest weapons that engineers, scientists, and technologists can deliver. Not the best deals that diplomats and lawyers can cut. Because, if the deal doesn’t work, the weapon has to be there. And we have to build based on the potential capability of our opponent, not on the best wishes of our diplomats. And that is why we need to have this kind of air dominance fighter for the twenty-first century.

I want to make one point to all of the defenders of this program in the Air Force, in the industrial base, and in the Congress because it is a point that is not emphasized enough, and I am frankly not sure why. The greatest threat to American aircraft and American pilots in the next twenty-five years may well not be air-superiority combat. It may be the mission of penetrating enemy airspace against guided missiles and against fairly dense antiaircraft systems. The stealth capability of the F-22 will become especially important in penetrating hostile airspace against sophisticated air defense systems. It will literally make possible for future presidents assigning missions with the certainty that our airmen and airwomen will return at a time when they could not do so with more traditional aircraft.

And, in that sense, there will be many occasions when it won’t be the air-superiority part, but rather, the air dominance part of the F-22 that allows us to execute the mission with minimum risk to young Americans because we will be able to go around and over missile systems that won’t be able to see us.

Dr. Sheila E. Widnall
Secretary, US Air Force

Today we mark a milestone for this nation and for every man and woman that will serve in the US military over the next five decades. Because, no matter what uniform our American service members wear, no matter where they serve, this aircraft will be the key to their ability to perform their missions as we enter the next century.

The F-22 will provide the air dominance that enables every member of the joint team to attack, to maneuver, and to operate free of attack from opposing air forces. When that curtain goes up, we’ll see before us the aircraft that is the lynchpin to America’s theater capabilities in the decades to come. It will fill the Air Force’s most fundamental contract with our joint commanders to provide the control of the battle space that they rely on to execute their operations. From the AWACs and the Rivet Joint and the Joint Stars that our CINCs (commanders in chief) rely on for information dominance, to the surface forces executing their schemes of maneuver in a real sense every element of our joint capabilities rest on the air dominance this aircraft must provide.

Parity is not acceptable with the stakes so high. That is precisely why we have ensured that the Raptor possesses capabilities beyond those of any other future fighter. Everyone here, I think, is familiar with the potent contribution that stealth, supercruise, and integrated avionics will bring to the Raptor as it brings these capabilities to the battlefield. We are excited by the technology. We are more excited, though, by the operational capabilities that this technology will give this aircraft and the CINCs who employ it.

Everyone involved in this historic program has understood from the start that we must bring this aircraft to fruition and that, to do so, we must ensure that it meets the most stringent standards of program management and cost control. Old standards no longer apply in this new arena, and so we have stepped up to new standards. We have used every tool in the acquisition reform tool kit on the Raptor and then we invented new tools. This is a model program and everyone on the F-22 team is committed to maintaining that status.

Gen Ronald R. Fogleman
Chief of Staff, US Air Force

How do you begin to convince the public that a $71 million airplane is a good buy? I would begin to respond to that question by asking you this. How much is a human life worth? All you remember back in the fall of 1990 and in the early days of 1991, there were all kinds of projections about the number of casualties that we were going to take in the Gulf War. Some of the low numbers were 5,000 to 10,000. Some of the high numbers were 20,000 to 30,000.

Those casualties never came to fruition, thank goodness. The reason is that we had a commander in chief who understood the value of air power. He used his air power to first achieve air superiority over Iraq and over the battlefield. With that, he was able to shape the battlefield in such a way that we had a hundred hours of ground operation after thirty-eight days of an air campaign that resulted in a decisive victory with a minimum number of casualties.

That’s what the F-22 is about. It is an air-superiority airplane. It is a force enhancer to the other members of the joint team. It makes their job possible, with fewer losses, fewer casualties, and less ground given up to an enemy. That’s what air dominance is about. That’s why no American fighting man has been attacked from the air since 1952 by an air-breathing vehicle. That didn’t happen by luck. Americans don’t have a God-given right to air superiority. Somebody’s got to pay attention to it. Somebody’s got to go develop the airplanes. Somebody’s got to make the investment. This is not a business in which you want to be second best or equal. You’ve got to dominate if you are going to be a nation that is engaged globally.

One of America’s great minds and early aviation supporters, Alexander Graham Bell, recognized as early as 1909 the importance that the aircraft would play in world affairs when he said, "The nation that secures control of the air will ultimately control the world." And while I would tell you that we have no desire to control the world, we do have a fairly strong desire that no one else control the world. As the nature of the future battlefield comes into focus, it becomes clear we must possess certain capabilities in our arsenal. One of those capabilities is the ensurance of not only air superiority but also air dominance. When I say air dominance, I am not talking about defeating another country’s aircraft. It’s about allowing US forces freedom of action, freedom from attack in all dimensions in a future battle space. It means denying the enemy any sanctuary. It means owning his air space.

It has been twenty-three years since we fielded America’s current air-superiority fighter, the F-15. Over the past two decades, we have paused in our TACAIR modernization while other countries were learning from us and seeking to reach parity with us. In some cases, they have succeeded, so it is time for this nation to once again invest in an air-superiority fighter, the F-22. Its supercruise capability and its integrated avionics make it the air-superiority aircraft of the twenty-first century. The F-22 represents America and America’s commitment, and the United States Air Force’s commitment, to provide our fellow members of the joint team and our theater commanders in chief the very best in air dominance.

We do not take this commitment lightly. As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the United States Air Force as a separate service, we have engaged in a year-long series of celebrations under the banner of "golden legacy and a boundless future." The F-22 is the center piece of that boundless future. It will give us the ability to achieve air dominance.

Now there are some who would wish to have us seek this air superiority through cheaper substitutes. But I would tell you that we must be wary of the lure of cheaper substitutes because they can be very deceptive. In fact, the ultimate price of these cheap substitutes may actually be much higher in both resources expended and human lives. Air superiority, air dominance, is the prerequisite for success on the battlefield. Our ability to obtain complete air dominance allows us to solve other problems with less-expensive solutions. Put another way, the magnificent soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines we put into the field will all be more effective under the protective umbrella of the F-22.

Gen. Richard E. Hawley
Commander, USAF Air Combat Command

The F-22 will be far more than just another airplane. It will be a strong and visible deterrent. It will dominate the sky so much that any potential adversary will think twice about challenging it, or about challenging the dynamic, productive, and free system of government that makes it possible. So, yes, I am excited about this airplane and about what we do today.

How and what we name an aircraft is a special responsibility. The name we give it carries a great deal of meaning to the people who fly it and maintain it. So we try to make sure the name fits the airplane. Just think back a moment. Think of the great names that have gone before—names that have captured the imagination of young people across the country and around the world: Mustang, Eagle, Lightning, Warhawk, Phantom, Thunderbolt, Fighting Falcon, Saber, and Super Saber. All great names, all great airplanes. Today we continue that tradition. Today we give our new fighter the name of the great birds of prey, all of them strong flyers, all of them agile, swift, and stealthy birds that own the sky and land beneath. It is a name that combines the best of the present and the past, a name befitting a revolutionary new aircraft. Today we are pleased to officially name the F-22 after a special class of fierce and proud winged warriors. Today we name the F-22, the Raptor.

Bob Barr
US Congressman, Georgia

As I was giving some thought just a couple of days ago to this great event today, my attention was drawn to a book given to me several years ago by a young man. That book was written about 2,500 years ago. That book is the Art of War by Sun Soo. The reason that my attention was drawn back to that book in preparation for the unveiling today of the superfighter that will defend America well into the twenty-first century is because Mr. Sun Soo understood certain things about human nature and geopolitics that bear repeating and understanding in our current world. He said, and I think that although he certainly could not have foreseen what we do here today, he understood, "that warfare is based on deception and confusing the enemy."

Ladies and gentlemen, the F-22 with its stealth capability and electronics will confuse our enemies so that we can do what Mr. Sun Soo also said in describing how you not only engage battles, but win battles. Because as Gen. Fogleman said, that is indeed our goal. Not to maintain the status quo but to win.

Mr. Sun Soo said that, in battle, you use the normal force to engage and the extraordinary force to win. And that is what we unveil here today — an extraordinary weapon system that will, if we have the will to build it in numbers sufficient to make its use fulfill its potential, protect not only this country and our national interests wherever that may be found in the world at any time, but also protect those countries and those peoples striving for freedom and seeking to maintain freedom who, over the centuries and currently, turn to America because we have not only the technological capability but also the political wherewithal to recognize that defense is not cheap.

We must spend money to defend ourselves and other countries. And we must not forget that in the years ahead, so that ages from now, when people of this country look back on what we do here today, they will see a weapon system that is not something stuck in a museum as a nice idea, but a weapon system that was built and funded and utilized in the cause of freedom by the greatest people on the face of the Earth, Americans.

Max Cleland
US Senator, Georgia

I am delighted to be here myself and delighted that my mother and father are here with me. Some of you know, but maybe most of you don’t, my father was a security guard here in the early ’40s when it was the old Bell Bomber Plant. He guarded the mock-up of the B-29 and was present at the rollout of the B-29 and the first flight of the B-29. He later joined the Navy and was at Pearl Harbor when the B-29 dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and ended the war. History has gone full circle now. Some fifty years later, he is present today to see the rollout of the great F-22.

We should never forget those who fought to keep this nation free. We owe them a great deal. We owe our men and women today our gratitude, too, for a job well done. I want to thank the Air Force leadership here today. This would not be possible without your strong support. I know this is a number one priority for the Air Force and it has my full support as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

I like the idea that, when this country engages in a military fight, we don’t fight fairly. I like to be on the edge, the cutting edge. I like to settle for superiority or in the Air Force phrase, air dominance. For an old Army captain, I like the Air Force dominating. The F-22 will contribute to our national security in immeasurable ways. Most importantly, it will allow us to win and win quickly. I look forward to the first flight of this truly awesome aircraft, and I look forward to the continued success of this program.

Paul Coverdell
US Senator, Georgia

All American glory is rooted in our freedom. Everything that we are as a people to the world and to ourselves emanates from freedom. Today we are witnessing a true and spectacular product of what our freedom makes possible.

Entrepreneurial people of immense flexibility and adaptability dedicated to our own security—all American glory is rooted in her freedom. Now, ladies and gentlemen, soon we will add the final component to this magnificent machine, the pilots. And on that day, we will give it its final essential equipment, courage, also a product of our freedom.

So I come here today and join this team and my colleagues, and I join in saluting those who will give it its final component, courage, and salute them wherever they are called to go for whatever reason they are asked to go. We will always be in your debt and in their debt.

George Kourpias
President, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

This F-22, and all of its predecessors, is a constant and brilliant example of what we can do if we work together in a partnership—a partnership built on cooperation and crowned with trust. This aircraft is a great example of how and why we must work together, labor and management, work together in the political arena as well as on the shop floor and at the negotiating table. We need to work together to ensure that the resources, the funds, for a project like this are not sacrificed at the altar of budget cutting.

This aircraft, the F-22, is an investment in some of the most cherished activities in American society. It’s an investment in our workers, highly skilled and well-paid workers. It’s an investment in technology, technologies of the future, for our children and for our grandchildren. And it’s an investment in our freedom, a freedom that was fought for and earned by the sweat, blood, and lives of our forefathers.

This is a program that will be good for us, all of us, the world over. On behalf of nearly half a million IAM members in every industry across this entire continent, I say, We work proud. We are proud.

Norman Augustine
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation

"No amount of money will buy time." That statement should be printed in capital letters at the top of every defense budget as a reminder that we don’t build weapons for today’s threats—but for tomorrow’s. The new Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, recognized the urgency of modernizing our armed forces during his confirmation hearings, when he stated flatly, "We need to increase procurement spending as soon as possible, not ten years from now." President Clinton stated during his State of the Union address two months ago, "We must increase funding for weapons modernization by the year 2000."

Today, many people seem to believe that planning for conflict has become passé. Not long before World War I, a young Winston Churchill confronted a similar anti-war sentiment that was prevalent in that day. He wrote, "War is too foolish, too fantastic, to be thought of in the twentieth century. Civilization has climbed above such perils. The interdependence of nations in trade and traffic, the sense of public law, the Hague Convention, liberal principles have rendered such nightmares impossible."

After stating this popular view, Churchill then mockingly — and, unfortunately, presciently — added, "Are you quite sure? It would be a pity to be wrong."

We need the F-22 precisely because we don’t know what the future holds. We do know that the nature of warfare has changed. We have entered the era of "come-as-you-are" combat—short, extremely intense conflicts, where in most cases the only equipment our armed forces will have available is that which was developed and produced years before.

Desert Storm demonstrated this principle. In that conflict, what we saw was the research of the 1960s, the development of the 1970s, the manufacturing of the 1980s, and the skills of the people of the 1990s … all combined to defeat the world’s fourth largest army in just forty days.

We wouldn’t have had the F-16, the LANTIRN, the GPS, the F-117, or a host of other systems to use in Desert Storm if twenty years before the words of the critics had been heeded. No amount of money spent in 1990 could have supplied those capabilities within the time frame the Allied coalition had to fight.

George Washington once said, "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." The F-22 gives us that preparation. It will secure far outposts while the needed infrastructure to sustain combat is being put in place. It will protect allies who are threatened. It will rule the skies while the earth underneath is still in an adversary’s hands.

The very potency of the F-22 troubles both our potential adversaries and our critics. But as Undersecretary of Defense Paul Kaminski asserted just a few days ago, "We are not looking for an equal or fair fight. We want to be unfair. We want air dominance to be completely on our side."

Stealth. Speed. Agility. Integrated avionics. Advanced armaments. All in one extraordinary aircraft. Undersecretary Kaminski is right—the F-22 was not designed for a fair fight. And that’s the way we’d like to keep it.