Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The Pentagon is proposing to extend by two years, until 2010, production of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F/A-22 stealth fighter, according to a government official familiar with the decision.

The proposal calls for slightly reduced production levels in 2007 and 2008 at Lockheed Martin's plants in Marietta, Georgia, and Fort Worth, Texas, said the official, who requested anonymity. Work on the plane would continue at those facilities in 2009 and 2010, and ultimately a few more than the 180 planes already approved by Congress would be built, the official said.

The Pentagon wants to keep F/A-22 production going until the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program -- the Pentagon's largest single weapons project -- proves itself in combat testing and begins full production, said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Washington-based Lexington Institute, a research organization.

``Funding will continue until 2010,'' Thompson said. ``They want to ensure a warm production line for the F-35.''

About $46 billion has been approved by Congress for F/A-22 spending since the 1980s. The total program is valued at $61 billion.

The production decision was reviewed as part of the Quadrennial Defense Review of strategy, threats, force structure and systems that is to be released in February. The production change must be approved by the White House's Office of Management and Budget.

Speed and Range

The F/A-22 is designed to handle threats in the air and on the ground and to have more speed and range than existing fighters. It's completing a last round of combat testing to verify that improvements in reliability have been made before the Air Force declares it ready for combat operations.

Thomas Jurkowsky, a spokesman for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, said the company hasn't been notified of any changes to the current F/A-22 plan. He said it would be ``inappropriate'' to comment further.

Lockheed Martin has thus far delivered 56 of the aircraft. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, in an interview yesterday, called the F/A-22 ``the nation's only fifth-generation fighter'' offering radar-evading stealth capability and an improvement in maneuverability and speed over current ``fourth-generation'' fighters such as the F-16 and F-15 jets.

While many Pentagon officials agree on the need to extend the production line until 2010, ``it's a tight budget,'' Wynne said.

`Terrible Signal'

``I think it would be a terrible signal to anybody coming after us that we would shut down our sole fifth-generation line before we got another fifth-generation fighter line warm,'' Wynne said, referring to the F-35.

The F/A-22 has been criticized by government watchdog groups who have advocated cutting or canceling the program. They question its relevance in a post-Cold War world and cite the Air Force's shifting rationale for the aircraft.

``The F/A-22 was sold to Congress and the public as an air- to-air fighter designed to penetrate deep into Soviet airspace,'' said one watchdog group, the Washington-based Project on Government Oversight, in a critique.

Since that original explanation, ``it's been touted as a potential bomber and most recently as an aircraft that could `kick the door down' in the event the U.S. needed to perform combat missions in China,'' the group said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 1, 2005 00:02 EST