To help fund the Iraq war, the Pentagon is considering a $30 billion cut to several weapons development programs, with planned purchases of the super-speed stealth F/A-22 Raptor fighter slashed. Air Force leaders fighting to save the $250 million-a-plane jet reportedly want to take money from the $244 billion Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program to keep the Raptor flying.

The JSF, which isn't scheduled for a test flight until next year at the earliest, would replace the aging fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons stationed at Hill and other bases around the world. But like the Raptor, the JSF has faced delays and cost increases that threaten its future.

Although there is little chance Hill could be home to the shrinking number of Raptor wings the Air Force will deploy, Utah lawmakers and base boosters hope the state's largest employer will become the major maintenance depot for F/A-22s, similar to its current role servicing F-16s. And they say Hill is a prime candidate to host a wing of JSF jets when they enter service.

"Either way, we have the capacity to handle these fighters and absorb their repair work," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, whose 1st Congressional District includes Hill and Alliant Techsystems, the Clearfield company that makes more than 100 composite parts for the Raptor.

"We need to build more F/A-22s, and I am frustrated with the delays in the Strike Fighter program," Bishop said. "These are essential planes. I don't care if it's a bipolar or a balanced-power world, if our planes can't technically be better than the Indian air force, we have something to worry about."

According to an internal Pentagon budget planning memo that was leaked to InsideDefense.com this week, the cuts would mean ending purchase of F/A-22s in 2008, yielding a maximum fleet of 180 planes. That is far below the 750 the Air Force envisioned when it greenlighted the Raptor to replace the thousands of aging F-15 fighter jets now in service.

Ten companies in Utah employ "hundreds" of workers that make components for the Raptor, according to Lockheed Martin. About 1,000 companies in 43 states have contracts with Lockheed to build Raptor parts. Lockheed gave $1.5 million to congressional campaigns and political parties in the 2004 elections, more than any other defense contractor.

The Pentagon memo, from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, seems to open the door to a fight for survival between the JSF and the Raptor. It directs Pentagon analysts to perform an "assessment of joint air dominance, the integrated joint capabilities that contribute to it, and the appropriate contributions by all types of tactical aircraft to joint air dominance in future warfare."

The Raptor is considered the most advanced fighter jet in the world, but it was conceived in the 1980s to one-up the MiGs of the now defunct Soviet Union. Its relevance in modern warfare has been widely challenged by defense analysts and congressional auditors, with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reportedly lukewarm to the program.

The Financial Times reported Tuesday that Rumsfeld rejected a request from Air Force brass to cut 500 of the 1,700 JSF planes the service plans to buy and redirect the money to save the Raptor program.