Vought Delivers F/A-22 Stabilator

Vought Aircraft Industries delivered its first set of horizontal stabilators to Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Georgia, for the F/A-22 Raptor in November. Vought and its principal supplier, Alliant Techsystems, produce the redesigned control surface, which incorporates producibility enhancements that will save $1 million per shipset and reduce aircraft weight by approximately thirty pounds. Lockheed Martin awarded the horizontal stabilator contract to Vought in 2002. The $40 million contract includes production and assembly of eighty-five shipsets through 2007. The stabilator is a hybrid control surface that functions as a combined horizontal stabilizer and elevator.