Raptor to take off at $258 million per jet

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">After two decades of struggle, the most expensive fighter jet in history is ready to become part of the American arsenal. <br /><br />The F/A-22 fighter, priced at $258 million and nicknamed the Raptor, is being billed by the US Air Force as a new chapter in the annals of air power, the most technologically advanced warplane ever built, a stealthy flying antenna that can capture enemy intelligence as it drops smart bombs while soaring at 1,000 mph.<br /><br />Designed at the height of the Cold War to penetrate Soviet radars without being detected and to shoot down Soviet jets in the event of World War III, the Raptor has taken 23 years to move from the drawing board to the assembly line. <br /><br />It is being born into a world far different from the one in which it was conceived. American air power is unrivaled; the enemy looks far different than it did back in 1981. The Raptor programme has already survived one bitter dogfight, five years ago, when Republicans in Congress tried to kill it. Not until now was it a done deal in the minds of its makers at Lockheed Martin, America’s biggest military contractor. <br /></div> <div class="Normal" style="" margin-left:432pt="" text-indent:36pt=""><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">NYT News Service</span></div> </div>