F-22 Raptor Thread

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[Jura The idiot]

I think the term is "concurrency orphan" (not exactly the Pentagon's term though, LOL)
F-22 Deemed Too Expensive to Fix for 6 Years Finally Ready to Fly

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One of the U.S.

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's oldest

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s is back out of the hangar and ready to fly again after six years idle in a hangar, according to the service.

The fifth-generation stealth jet, tail number 91-4006, had been shelved in 2012 for "needed costly upgrades," and with sequestration just around the corner, Air Force officials made the decision "to put it into storage," the service said in a recent release.

One of the

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operates, alongside the

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, the newly repaired Raptor, part of the 411th Flight Test Squadron,

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, California, was re-unveiled during a ceremony this week in front of base leadership and Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. officials, the release said.

"This was a gainfully employed airplane when she was working," said Steve Rainey, Lockheed Martin F-22 chief test pilot and member of the F-22 Combined Test Force at Edwards.

The decision to hold off maintenance for years underscores the unwieldy cost of U.S. 5th-generation fighters, even as the military may be considering a successor to the F-22 and F-35. Unit cost for the F-22 was around $150 million in 2009 but some estimates put the per-plane cost at closer to $250 million in current-day dollars.

"Our warfighter needs her back flying again," added Brig. Gen. E. John Teichert, 412th Test Wing commander, according to the release. Teichert said he flew the aircraft many times when he was assigned to the 411th FLTS as a project pilot

"The fifth-generation fighter [4006] was one of the first F-22 Raptors to have avionics installed for testing and has been at the 411th FLTS since it arrived in May 2001," the release said.

A video, titled "The Phoenix Rises," played during the ceremony for the now-oldest flying Raptor in the Pentagon's inventory.

Lockheed Martin originally manufactured the stealthy twin-engine fighters. The Air Force originally wanted at least 381 Raptors, but in 2011, production ceased at 187 aircraft. More than 160 F-22 belong to active-duty units, and the remainder are with Air

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elements. While some aircraft have come out of active status for testing purposes, the Air Force has 183 aircraft in its inventory today. Four aircraft were lost or severely

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between 2004 and 2012.

Boeing, Lockheed and the Air Force worked 27 months at Edwards to overhaul the plane to get it back into flying status, the release said. The work was completed in July.

"This included 25,000 man-hours and almost 11,000 individual fixes or parts," the release said.

Air Force officials did not disclose the total cost to repair the aircraft.

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, which included a new avionics suite, extends the Raptor's life from 2,000 flight hours to 4,000, officials said.

The stealth fighter will now be used as "a flight sciences aircraft," in part of the F-22's fleet modernization effort, the release said.

"It increases our test fleet from three to four, giving us another flight sciences jet," said Lt. Col. Lee Bryant, 411th FLTS commander and F-22 CTF director, in the release. "This will help us tackle the expanding F-22 modernization program."

As this F-22 rolls back onto the flight line, the Air Force is reportedly looking to the F-22's successor, which may be a hybrid of the Raptor and the Joint Strike Fighter.

According to a

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, Lockheed has been quietly pitching a hybrid said to have a structure similar to the F-22, avionics like the F-35. Japan and the U.S. Air Force are both prospective customers.

"It's not an F-22. It's not an F-35. It's a combination thereof," David Deptula, a retired Air Force general who now serves as dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies told DefenseOne Thursday.

"That can be done much, much more rapidly than introducing a new design," Deptula said.

 

[Air Force Brat]

I think the term is "concurrency orphan" (not exactly the Pentagon's term though, LOL)
F-22 Deemed Too Expensive to Fix for 6 Years Finally Ready to Fly

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Exactly what the Brat has been "Preaching" all along, a 5.5 born again Raptor! We'll see, but if Japan goes big, and they really better, USAF will be right behind!

The USAF is going to give Japan a couple of "loaners" to play with, and no doubt they will be impressed with what the F-22 will do, just in "Street Clothes"?

she gets a lot more serious when she puts on the "Alien Bird" garb!

by the way, "Klepto" an F-22 pilot loved the "Alien Bird"!

 

[Jura The idiot]

Exactly what the Brat has been "Preaching" all along, a 5.5 born again Raptor! We'll see, but if Japan goes big, and they really better, USAF will be right behind!

The USAF is going to give Japan a couple of "loaners" to play with, and no doubt they will be impressed with what the F-22 will do, just in "Street Clothes"?

she gets a lot more serious when she puts on the "Alien Bird" garb!

by the way, "Klepto" an F-22 pilot loved the "Alien Bird"!

Brother why don't you check Yesterday at 8:29 AM

according to DefenseOne Lockheed Pitching F-22/F-35 Hybrid to U.S. Air Force

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and pages of daydreaming which followed in
US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

 

[Air Force Brat]

Brother why don't you check Yesterday at 8:29 AM
and pages of daydreaming which followed in
US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Yes, I meant to like your post, but got ahead of myself by going to check out your links...anyway, as you well know I have been and will continue to be a persistent proponent of an UP-Graded F-22, I wouldn't really mind seeing two F-135s in back, and I wouldn't really mind ditching the OVT in favor of more fuel, I believe the LockMart proposal for Japan is for larger, wetter wings, LOL!

Of course I would go for the fuel efficient F-135 up-grade engine.

Anyway, we will see where this goes, I'm cautiously hopeful! You may recall Dave had some criticisms of the Raptor that were big news a one time, I'm happy to see he's become a "true believer"!

 

[Jura The idiot]

Dave

Majumdar?

 

[Air Force Brat]

Majumdar?

Dave Deptula! retired USAF Pilot and head of the Mitchell Institute,,, his naysayer article was a long time ago in "Air and Space" or something like that, LOL! thanks for your like in the J-20 thread, strange that an SDF Mod would think its ok to call Americans wife and girl friend beaters?? such has become the sad state of our once Proud and Stately SDF,,, missing the daily supervision provided by Jeff and BD....

 

[Jura The idiot]

,,, missing the daily supervision provided by Jeff and BD....

I've recently figured we're on our own, all one can try to do is to hash it out with the poster (or let it be)

 

[Air Force Brat]

The role of a new administration is to direct the country back on a path of economic prosperity by having sensible economic policies that foster growth. It is the role of the USAF leadership to put together a strategic pathway with an alignment of air force spending programs that would address specific security needs. As such, it is the role of the USAF leadership to put together a strong case for the new president to consider because there are other competing programs from a fixed spending pool. The hope is that this spending pool will be enlarged by a new administration on the back of a stronger economy. The problem today as I see it with the USAF leadership is in the incoherency in terms of thought process in moving forward. Fundamentally to this is the failure in recognising the source for the truncation of the original F-22 and the B-2 program. Aside from the post cold war attitude towards big ticket items, the big aversion was in the cost runaway in high tech programs like the F-22. Successive new generation programs will cost much more than the previous generation because it is not simply a unit replacement but a capability expansion from prior generation. If the country cannot afford a 5th gen type programs like the F-22, what rationale exist that a 6th generation program will be affordable? The argument is that the country cannot afford to re-start the F-22 program because of cost, but somehow it can afford a 6th generation program is simply delusional. There needs to be a debate about a 5 plus generation platform vs a 6th generation in terms of need, timeline and affordability matrix. I am not seeing it in the conversations other than we need to start working on a 6th gen. program and funding for it must be protected. That is a one dimensional thinking.

and here we have an intelligent informed post from one of our "former members", who became very tired of the "nonsense", hopefully Webby will restore a sense of decorum here at some point?? In any regard the F-22 upgrade looks good!

Let create a new Block. F-22C Block ##.


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[anzha]

In any regard the F-22 upgrade looks good!

Timing is too late. When the F-22 went IOC, they ought to have started the work for the C model. Doing what they are proposing would have been the right thing, except the F-35 avionics were a mess at the time of the F-22A IOC and even still at the time of the 22A production cancellation.

Now, the NGAD/PCA is ramping up and a FrankenRaptor would be an expensive distraction. Given the funding profile for the NGAD program, there ought to be demonstrators in the air within 3 years. the "F-36" (or 37) - if it is really a fighter - will be selected and getting ready for a very short EMD: the USAF RCO is running the procurement. This will be short and relatively sweet compared to the F-35 and even F-22. It will follow the B-21 trajectory, which could mean a new fighter before 2028 in production.

It would be a far, far better thing to have Boeing do a SLEP on the F-15s and add as much of the F-15X capabilities as is financially feasible.