WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — The Air Force’s newest F-22A Raptor, a $142 million attack plane, has been delivered by Lockheed Martin Corp. and will be assigned to Langley Air Force Base, Va.

The warplane was delivered to the Air Force this week at Lockheed Martin’s plant in Marietta, Ga., and is being flown to its base at Langley, according to officials at the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which manages the Raptor program.

The new plane’s delivery marks the start of the second of three multi-year lots of 60 Raptors bundled into a single Air Force contract, officials said Friday, Dec. 18. It is the 144th Raptor to be delivered to the Air Force.

Production of the stealth fighter is to end after the last planes are delivered in early 2012, giving the Air Force a fleet of 187 of the Raptors.

A version of the plane used by Lockheed Martin for testing has been displayed since 2007 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson.