On 6 April 2009, as part of the 2010 Pentagon budget announcement, Secretary of Defense Gates called for production of the F-22 to be phased out by fiscal year 2011, leaving the USAF with 187 fighters.[8] F-35 acquisition would be accelerated. Gates noted that although the US was currently engaged in two wars, the Raptor had yet to fly a single mission supporting either one. Said Gates, "It was not a close call. There is no military requirement for numbers beyond 187."[42][43] In an editorial in the Washington Post on April 13, 2009 USAF Secretary Michael Donley and his Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz stated that they supported Gates' decision, saying "The F-22 is a vital tool in the military's arsenal and will remain in our inventory for decades to come. But the time has come to move on."[44][45]
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