(Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Josh Plueger/Released)

The F-22 Raptor might be resurrected by congressmen worried about global security.

The aircraft’s history is full of false starts and harsh stops. The jet officially entered the force in 2005, but it was squashed a mere four years later to cut costs. The Air Force only bought 187 jets out of the original 749, the last of which was delivered in 2012.

While the military’s budget couldn’t support the Raptor program, the aircraft itself has served the Air Force well. A handful of F-22s were deployed to Europe in August 2015 to support NATO and eastern Europe, and they’ve also completed operations against the Islamic State.

Rep. Mike Turner of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces wonders whether the military should restart production on the F-22 in the face of growing global threats.

“As a result of our adversaries closing the technology gap, and increasing demand from allies and partners for high-performance, multi-role aircraft to meet evolving and worsening global security threats, the committee believes that the prospect of restarting the F-22 production line is worthy of further exploration,” Turner said Wednesday.

The committee is adding a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act asking the military to research whether or not the F-22 would made a great re-addition to the Air Force. The study is supposed to be complete by Jan. 2017.

[Reuters]