Blasts from the Past: A look at stories from the pages of National Defense as NDIA and the magazine approach their 100th anniversary.

• Position: UP FRONT

As National Defense ramps up to cover the Air Force Association's big annual conference, Sept. 17-19, and Modern Day Marine, Sept. 25-27, we take a look back 10 years at the September 2008 issue.

The F-22 Raptor was the topic of the day. "F-22 Manufacturers Brace for Uncertainty," the headline read. The future was "glum," Senior Editor Grace V. Jean wrote despite the aircraft going operational only three years earlier.

"At $143 million per copy, the F-22 Raptor is the Defense Department's most expensive fighter jet and an easy target for slashing in tightening budgetary times," stated the article.

At that point, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had already left F-22 funding out of the fiscal year 2009 budget...