PhotoBlog - f-22

Dec

2011

4:08pm, EST

Tami Chappell / Reuters

The final F-22 Raptor fighter jet rolls out of the assembly plant during a ceremony marking the occasion at the Lockheed Martin Plant in Marietta , Georgia on Monday.

Last F-22 Raptor fighter leaves assembly line at Lockheed Martin plant in Georgia

Lockheed Martin produced 187 of these airplanes for the US Air Force. According to the Air Force F-22 factsheet, the unit cost was $143 million each. But the LA Times uses a much higher number in its story about an F-22 crash in Alaska:

The report is the latest in an ongoing saga for the problem-plagued F-22, each of which costs an estimated $412 million, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

In all, the F-22 has experienced seven major crashes with two fatalities since it entered service in 2005. The supersonic, stealthy jet has never been used in combat.