In Europe four nations recently began cracking open 300 F-16 jet fighters like eggs and stuffing them with new electronic components that turn them into the hottest fighters in the sky.
Fortunately, many of Charlie Wilson's successors on Capitol Hill have begun to engage on the question of whether to keep open the production line for the F-22.
Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Republican from Georgia, got an amendment into the budget to buy seven more F-22s and keep the Marietta, Ga. production line open.