Posted on 09/07/2011 9:44:28 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
Lockheed Martin has started final assembly on the last F-22A Raptor ordered by the US Air Force, but the delivered fleet remains grounded over concerns about the pilot's breathing system inside the cockpit.
Lockheed has mated the fuselage sections of the F-22A with USAF serial number 09-4195. In final assembly, the company's workers in Marietta, Georgia, will instal the wings, tails, landing gear and Pratt & Whitney F119 engines, among other avionics integration and check-out tasks.
The last of 195 aircraft ordered by the USAF, including 185 remaining operational airframes, is now scheduled for delivery early in the second quarter of 2012.
The updated schedule is delayed slightly from the company's plan last year to deliver the last F-22A before March. Lockheed halted deliveries to the USAF while the F-22 was ordered grounded by the Air Combat Command after 3 May.
That order continued to be in effect after this article went to press, although the fleet's status could change quickly.
Although the fleet is technically grounded, some F-22As have been allowed to fly for specific reasons. As Hurricane Irene approached the US east coast in late August, the USAF scrambled F-22As and other fighters away from Langley AFB, Virginia.
USAF officials have confirmed that hypoxia was ruled out as a potential cause of the fatal F-22 crash at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, last November. The actual cause of the incident has not been released.
That unexplained crash and a string of reports of hypoxia illness prompted the USAF to voluntarily stand down the F-22A fleet. The service is continuing to study aircraft onboard oxygen generating systems (OBOGS) for the F-22A and several other aircraft, including the Lockheed F-35A.
The OBOGS investigation is led by a scientific advisory committee chaired by Gregory Martin, a retired USAF general and fighter pilot.
Ping.
This seems like a very long grounding. Has to make you wonder if they didn’t receive instructions to leave them on the ground.
Mixed feelings on this.
Would you rather have thousands of F-16’s, or hundreds of F-22’s? Our enemy (for the moment) is huddling in caves, firing RPG’s at trucks or building IEDs. Predators are serving just fine, and we can build and fly a heck of a lot of the Predators for what it costs to field a single F-22.
If we were to go to war with China, they would overwhelm us with cheap weaponry - using their numbers to beat superior technology.
Sure, I love technolgy (I’m an engineer - it’s what I live for); but especially with the recession the Libtards and our CINC have created - we need to be smart with your money too.
Any side bets on Obama ordering the destruction of the tooling?
“Any side bets on Obama ordering the destruction of the tooling?”
Nah, he’ll order it sold to the Chinese.
I am sure we can find a freeper with a vacant wearhouse or vacant land to store them in/on.....
Reminds me of Arthur C. Clarke’s “Superiority”.
There’s enough vacant commercial space here in Silicon Valley alone to store hundreds of sets of tooling.
Brilliant post ... never read that short story before. Wanted to buy it for the iPad; but $45 is a bit steep for my tastes.
Arthur C. Clark was a genius.
The reason for the current generation of fighters is only partly the physical instances of those fighters. A good part it to keep the knowledge base alive of how to develop and make advanced fighters. Right now our ability to actually make nukes is slipping away. Sure, we could do it, but a lot of the tricks you pick up along the way are stored in people’s heads, not on paper, and when all those people retire/die, it’s lost and you have to re-invent many of the details.
Does anyone know the status of the F35?
Has 0(zero TM) canceled that one as well?
To be fair, Zero™ didn't cancel the F-22, Bush and Rumsfeld did.
sad. Now we also have to save the F-35 from the Obamaton
When America returns... so will a new F-22.
LLS
Congress already funded the preservation of the tooling: For posterity, Lockheed creates F-22 'how-to' manual
Thanks! That is excellent news!
I knew exactly which story you were linking to even before I clicked. Loved that story when I read it more than a few years ago. Still a great story, even today.
We didn’t out “quality” the Germans in WWII, we just ran them out of “quality” and hunted them down like dogs with our vast numbers of inferior Sherman tanks. (Okay, the P-51 WAS a pretty good fighter, etc.)
The Soviets...umm...the Russians have a saying: “Quantity has a quality all its own.”
Yeah, that’s a fun one. Clarke’s short stories are really good and he’s got a few that will really stay with you.
I agree with you in spirit; the skills we have in space, radar evasion and many other critical specialty areas are evaporating. Most of our nukes were built 20 years ago, using 20 yr old technology - sustaining them today is both expensive and difficult. Where does one get a 8088 processor in a CERDIP package that is RAD certified?
But, while I think building 100’s of the F-22 is over-kill; I have no problem with maintaining our fleet and quietly working on improvements to the existing F-22. Each F-22 costs about ~$150 Million, compared to the F-16’s $15 Million. 10:1 ratio.
Now, granted the kill ratio of the F-22 in undoubtably higher than the F-16 - but our F-16 squadrons won’t be fighting F-22 competitors. They will be fighting RPG’s, IED’s and small arms fire. Worst case, they will be fighting Russian Sukhoi PAK FA and Mikoyan LMFS. Typically, I would expect lots and lots of Sukhoi Su-27 ‘Flankers’.
Overkill is just too expensive to maintain. When you can fly hundreds of Predators or other drones for the cost of a single F-22; it simply becomes too expensive to maintain in any quantity as part of our arsenal. Now, as potential enemies advance, naturally we will be forced to follow suit. As-is; our advancements (paid by our taxdollars) are being given to China and other potential enemies for political contributions.
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