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U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors fly in formation during a training mission in southwest Asia, Dec. 6, 2009. The F-22 fighters and crews are deployed from the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and entered the Air Forces Central area of responsibility for the first time as part of a multi-national exercise where aircrews from France, Jordan, Pakistan, the U.A.E., the U.K. and the U.S. trained together in fighting a large-scale air war. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Michael B. Keller. SOUTHWEST ASIA — U.S. Airmen here marked a milestone recently, completing the first deployment...

Japan has grounded all of its F-15J fighters until it can figure out what exactly caused one of its F-15s to shed several parts during a recent air show. Seven pieces fell off the aircraft as it made a sharp turn.. This sort of thing makes Japan even more eager to find a modern fighter to replace its 118 F-4 and 202 F-15 aircraft. With China and Russia putting more new fighters into service, Japan sees a threat. Japan has made several efforts to buy the U.S. F-22, without success. The United States does not want to export its premier...

GUAM - Despite taking some time to adjust to a totally different climate that challenged them to work extra hard to do their best and challenged maintainers to keep aircraft operational, deployed airmen from Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base and their fleet of $140 million F-22 Raptors performed above and beyond expectation with their 36th Wing counterparts stationed at Andersen Air Force Base. As Guam News Factor reported on October 5, heavy rains on Guam caused electronics problems on the visiting Raptors during their temporary basing on island. The Air Force Times had reported that crews at Elmendorf Air Force...

EDWARDS AFB - More than 100,000 people streamed into Edwards Air Force Base Saturday to join in a celebration of aviation and flight test history during Flight Test Nation 2009, the base's open house and air show. "WHAT A SIGHT - The Warbirds demonstration included pyrotechnics Saturday at Edwards Air Force Base Flight Test Nation 2009 Air Show and Open House. Participating planes included the B-52, B-17, P-51 and P-38." MOLLY HAUXWELL/Valley Press

The U.S. military’s historic dominance of the skies, unchallenged since around spring 1943, is increasingly at risk because of the proliferation of advanced technologies and a buildup of potential adversary arsenals, according to Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the service’s chief for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Speaking today at the Air Force’s annual convention in the Washington area today, he provided a wide ranging assessment of what the QDR team is calling “high-end, asymmetric threats.” Emphasizing the increasing capabilities of “anti-access weapons,” such as long range precision missiles, Deptula said pilots in future wars will not operate in the...

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama sent his Administration’s 2010 budget priorities to the Congress. What it revealed was shocking, even if it should not have been surprising, with trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, even before healthcare reform spending is counted. The only significant cuts were in future defense spending, even as American forces are fully engaged in fighting two wars and the world appears as dangerous as it ever was. The White House’s budget submission called for ending production of the Air Force F-22 Raptor, a replacement for the 40-year old F-15 Eagle air-superiority fighter....

After the Senate vote, General Peter Pawling, who moved to the staff of U.S. Pacific Command earlier this year after serving as commander of the Hawaii Air National Guard's 154th Wing, told Aviation Week's David Fulghum that he was "still planning on getting those airplanes." "There is nothing out there that can fly against it," Pawling said. "If we had a major conflict [against someone with advanced air defenses], I can't imagine going in there with anything but an F-22." Indeed, that same day Fulghum quoted another Air Force official, this one identified only as a "senior intelligence officer." "The...

Russia and China, two potential U.S. adversaries in a future war, are committed to big increases in defense spending and global military adventures in the coming years, just as President Obama is forcing the Pentagon to scale back. The imbalance has defense experts worried that re-emergent Russia and China will be able to defeat U.S. forces in an air, sea and ground conflict because they will field superior fighters, ships and tanks in the next decades. This week, China announced its most ambitious military exercise to date. The People's Liberation Army is sending 50,000 troops to far reaches of the...

A year ago, USAF had a fully funded modernization program. That program has unraveled. The Air Force is in the throes of what could prove to be one of the greatest upheavals in its turbulent 62-year history. The words “danger” and “difficulty” have become only too appropriate in describing the situation of USAF’s critical combat formations. Today is a time when aged fighters fall out of the sky and no replacement bomber is in sight. The nation bets its basic security on a force that is older—by far—than at any time since World War II. Some see the current turmoil...

The pilot of an F-22 Raptor that crashed during a test flight on March 25 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., almost lost consciousness during a high-g maneuver and failed to pull the aircraft out of a steep, high-speed dive in time to recover. Lockheed Martin test pilot David Cooley was killed immediately by windblast forces when he ejected from the F-22 at 765 knots equivalent airspeed, roughly 150 knots above the Aces II ejection seat’s design limits, U.S. Air Force accident investigators say. The mishap occurred on the third of three high-speed, high-g test runs to evaluate how opening...

WASHINGTON, July 30 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $636.3 billion defense spending bill that scuttled the disputed F-22 fighter jet program but retained funding for other projects the White House opposes. The passage followed the White House's renewed threat for President Barack Obama to veto a bill for fiscal 2010, starting Oct. 1, if it includes money to continue producing the F-22.

Federal Spending: With the money spent on honeybee insurance in the stimulus package, the Army could buy nine utility helicopters and employ 1,200 skilled workers. Have we forgotten that the nation's interstate highway system was a defense project?The repairing of the nation's roads, bridges and infrastructure is touted by supporters of the stimulus package as a way of creating jobs that America needs to revitalize its economy. The interstate highway system initiated by President Dwight Eisenhower is cited as the kind of job-creating infrastructure work we need to do. What isn't noted is that when Eisenhower announced the program, he...

The ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee says the battle to fund more than 187 F-22 stealth fighters is not over, even though pro-Raptor forces suffered a stinging defeat in the Senate this week. Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon of California told HUMAN EVENTS the next F-22 war zone is a House-Senate committee conference on defense spending. There, as ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, McKeon will fight to preserve final bill language to provide for 12 more jets, as the House approved...Gen. John Corley, who heads Air Force Air Combat Command in Langley, Va., sent a...

In a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago this month, Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out the case for discontinuing the F-22 Raptor: "The F-22, to be blunt, does not make much sense anyplace else in the spectrum of conflict." In English that means that plane has not been used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Gates wants to slay the beast, but he understands you have to feed the beast before you can kill it. So the administration supports ending the F-22's long $65 billion flight -- after seven new planes budgeted for 2010 bring the...

America, Israel and Japan are now at a crossroad. America may not be able to sell an export version of the best fighter in the world, the F-22, to Israel and Japan. The reason is the Administration's current insistence on holding fast to a DOD-budgeted production run of F-22s that will stop soon at 187. The harsh reality of stopping F-22 production will be two American allies who are in increasing mortal danger will not have access to the absolute best when they really need America's help. It has been argued that the F-35 is a great substitute for the...

Defense Spending: The TARP bailout may hit $24 trillion, but the Senate says the F-22 is too expensive to build and maintain. So why are the Japanese so desperate to buy this "unnecessary" Cold War weapon?By a vote of 58-40, the Senate on Tuesday voted to remove $1.75 billion set aside in a defense bill to build seven more F-22 Raptors, adding to the 187 stealth technology fighters already in the pipeline. After some hope the production lines would be kept open, the Senate succumbed to arguments by the administration and others that the fighter was too expensive, too hard...

The Washington Post reports that the F-22 amendment in the senate defense spending bill was voted down 58-40. Many have called this pork, and I’m inclined to agree with them. However, I’m confused by a few things, namely that taking the Obama administration’s stimulus logic full circle seems to justify the F-22 program. There are tons of stimulus projects that create less jobs and are of dubious merit. For an aviation related example look at the small airports that receive million of dollars and serve minuscule communities. I’m positive that the F-22 program would “save or create” far more jobs...

Lambasting defense “waste,” President Obama came to the Rose Garden this afternoon to take a little victory lap, his first veto threat – against a defense bill that until minutes ago contained $1.75 billion in funding for the F-22 “Raptor” fighter jet – having worked. “I reject the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on outdated and unnecessary defense products to keep this nation secure,” the president declared, saying he was “grateful” the Senate voted to kill the F-22 fighter jets “that military experts and members of both parties say we do not need.” Budgeting, the...

@senjohnmcain: Big win F-22 58-40 - and saved the American taxpayer $1.75 billion - Now let's get rid of the rest of the pork!Levin and McCain in preser after the F-22 funding vote

(Japan and its role on the international stage grow increasingly important by the day. As North Korea accelerates its nuclear and missile threats and China builds its military at a frantic pace. the role of Japan as one of American’s premier allies in the Pacific becomes even more critical and the byzantine internal politics of Japan are gaining more attention. On Sunday, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost the latest in a string of municipal elections to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, this one in the capital city of Tokyo. Almost immediately, Prime Minister Taro Aso called a national...

With a vote set for high noon on Tuesday, the political tide in the Senate has shifted to now favor the White House and Pentagon in their pivotal fight to strike new procurement funds for the F-22 fighter. Just last week, conventional wisdom held that the $1.75 billion authorization would easily survive a challenge on the floor. But fearful of embarrassing President Barack Obama, Democrats appear to be moving back toward the White House, which has mounted its own late-breaking campaign to win the last votes.

The Israel Air Force will review the possibility of purchasing the advanced American F-22 fifth-generation stealth fighter jet if a congressional ban is lifted, enabling it to be sold abroad, defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. Referring to recent reports in the US that Congress had asked the Air Force to submit a report on the possibility of exporting the jet to Japan, Israel and other allies, a senior defense official said if this happened, "we will have to consider the option." "This is an advanced fighter jet of superior capabilities," the Defense Ministry official said. "It will...

The most senior retired military officer to back President Obama's run for the White House says the president is making a "real mistake" in terminating F-22 production. Retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, who was the Air Force chief of staff during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm and who credited air power with winning the war, was the first four-star officer to endorse the one-term senator in his presidential campaign. McPeak traveled with Obama to bolster the candidate's commander-in-chief credentials, much to the chagrin of the general's fighter pilot colleagues. But now McPeak is breaking with Obama on the president's most contentious...

Imagine a fighter jet that would give the United States complete air superiority in any conflict. An aircraft that’s faster, has longer range, and is more fuel-efficient at high speeds than any aircraft ever built. A plane virtually invisible to radar and deadly accurate, almost guaranteeing that any selected target would be destroyed. An aircraft so advanced that the armed forces of every country on earth are scared to death of it and know that they would be defenseless against it for years to come. We have that plane. It’s called the F-22 Raptor, and our President and Commander-in-Chief, Barack...

The Democrat-controlled Congress is challenging President Obamas resolve to cut an Air Force fighter plane program - a move the White House calls the first major test of its efforts to curb runaway spending and slash unneeded projects. Mr. Obama and his spending-cut allies on Capitol Hill are going head-to-head with powerful Democratic committee chairmen and lawmakers from both parties with home-state interests in building the F-22 Raptor who are trying to add money for the fighter plane over the objections of the president and the Pentagon. "The Pentagon doesn't want this plane; the Pentagon doesn't think we need this...

WITH a price tag above $350 million per plane, the F-22 fighter requires at least 30 hours of maintenance for every hour it flies. (Insider scuttlebutt insists it actually needs 60 hours of repairs for every hour it operates.) That's worse than the MG I had back in college. Pilots call high-maintenance aircraft "hangar queens." Well, the F-22's a hangar empress. After three expensive decades in development, the plane meets fewer than one-third of its specified requirements. But defense giant Lockheed Martin's immense clout on the Hill threatens to force you, the taxpayer, to buy still more of these pieces...

Supporters of building more F-22 fighters have their backs against the wall. The President, the Secretary of Defense, the Air Force leadership and the Senate's top military experts have all declared that the U.S. needs no more than the 187 of the $350 million fighters it has already bought. So the F-22's backers are changing their tactics in demanding more planes, relying on arguments from second-tier officers, citing imaginary threats and introducing the most potent argument of all these days: preserving 25,000 well-paying jobs. -snip- Chambliss also sought a letter of support from the chief of the Air National Guard,...

6/23/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Beginning with Lot 7 production of the F-22 Raptor, the Air Force hopes to enter into a cost-saving, multi-year procurement contract with the aircraft and engine manufacturer. According to Maj. Gen. Richard B.H. Lewis, Air Force executive officer for the F-22 program, a multi-year procurement contract could mean a $225 million cost avoidance for the Air Force. "Is that substantial? To me that is," General Lewis said. "To the taxpayer, a quarter of a billion savings on 60 airplanes is huge." Lots 7, 8 and 9 of the F-22 will each produce about 20 aircraft,...

2000 x 1300 pixels, 3202 x 2130 pixels, 4256 x 2832 pixels via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200905.htm  The Photographer  Senior Airman Clay Lancaster, United States Air Force

Since World War II, the U.S. military has used air power as a decisive force multiplier to prevail in peacetime and in combat. In fact, "American ground forces have not come under attack from enemy air forces since the Korean War."[1] Usually, the military with the best and most fighter aircraft achieves air superiority (control of the airspace over the operational zone). Accordingly, Air Force leaders consider their air superiority mission their second highest priority, behind only nuclear deterrence.[2] The U.S. military has consistently gone one step further by establishing air supremacy, in which "the opposing air force is incapable...

The White House has signalled that President Obama may veto plans by Washington politicians to maintain production of the F-22 Raptor stealth superfighter. The move has important implications for the British arms industry, and even for the future of the Royal Navy. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, backed by the president, decided in April that America should cease producing the Raptor once it has a fleet of 187. However, members of Congress have subsequently amended the Pentagon budget plans to keep manufacture of the expensive ultrafighter going past that point.

Thirty years after Jimmy Carter's malaise speech, we return to the days of rising joblessness, an unresponsive economy, deference to dictators, gutting the military and an energy policy tilting at windmills... As history repeats itself on the anniversary of the speech MSNBC's Chris Matthews wrote, we wonder if the "Hardball" host, who has worked for four Democratic politicians, is still getting tingles up his legs. The Democratic Party apparently has learned nothing in the past three decades. Will we see a return of the misery index? The only thing that's different is the sweater.

Without congressional intervention, the Air Force's ability to conduct air superiority missions will be increasingly at risk over the next three decades. President Obama's fiscal year (FY) 2010 defense budget request would stop production of the F-22A Raptor at just 187 aircraft and permanently shut down this production line.In reality, the F-22A program would actually end production at 186 fighters and not 187, because the March 2009 crash of an F-22 at Edwards Air Force Base involved a test aircraft not part of the official program of record. President Obama's decision to cap F-22A production at 186 fighters would in...

The Senate began debating the 2010 Defense Budget and a key topic was the continued production of the F-22 Raptor advance fighter. The Obama Administration has recommended ending production of the aircraft at the 187 currently planned. The Air Force had wanted at least forty odd more to meet its requirements but submitted the smaller number with their budget. Both the House and Senate Armed Service Committees included money to continue production. Now that the bill is on the Senate Floor some members are offering amendments to remove it.Obama has actually threatened to veto the budget if it includes...

The F-22A Raptor is the world's most advanced fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The F-22A offers several unique features: thrust-vectoring engines, which make it highly maneuverable; the latest in stealth technology; an avionics system that can fuse information into a single display; and the ability to cruise at supersonic speeds at 50,000 feet. What makes the Raptor spectacular--and why its capabilities cannot simply be replaced by additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters--is the F-22A's unique ability to accelerate beyond the threat and reposition for attack. Naturally, Congress is protective of these unrivaled technologies. Even though core allies like Japan and Australia have repeatedly...

With a whistleblower lawsuit against Lockheed Martin grabbing headlines for making the startling allegation that the US Air Force's top-of-the-line fighter, the F-22 Raptor, has been supplied defective stealth coatings, further information is now emerging from Pentagon sources that the F-22 programme is indeed the source of substantial worry for the defence establishment. Internal documents, as well as Pentagon officials, reveal that Lockheed Martin's F-22 now requires more than 30 hours of maintenance for every hour that it spends in the skies. This adverse ratio effectively pushes its hourly cost of flying to more than $44,000, which easily outstrips the...

President Obama placed his political capital on the line Monday and reiterated his threat to veto a military spending bill unless the Senate removed $1.75 billion set aside to buy seven additional F-22 fighter jets.

Below is the Air Force Association response to a recent Washington Post article that was highly critical of the F-22 program. Just as important; if a supposedly renown paper like the Washington Post gets so much wrong on this topic, what else are they misreporting? Assertion: F-22 maintenance man-hours per flying hour have increased, recently requiring more than 30 hours of maintenance for every hour airborne. Facts: The F-22 is required to achieve 12.0 direct maintenance man-hours per flight hour (DMMH/FH) at system maturity, which is defined to be when the F-22 fleet has accumulated 100,000 flight hours. In 2008...

In an unusual move, President Obama sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee vowing to veto any defense bill that funds more Lockheed Martin F-22 fighter jets. Obama threw down the gauntlet as the Senate took up the 2010 defense authorization bill. The firm commitment to veto any defense bill containing funding for the F-22 puts Obama in a tough position: he would veto bills written by a Democratic Congress. The letter to Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) comes as the two senators introduced an amendment to strip $1.75 billion for seven...

Congress, even with a Democrat majority in both houses, may reject a major cut in defense spending proposed by the Obama Administration. In the 2010 defense budget, production of the Air Force F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter was to be halted at the 187 aircraft already funded. The Air Force had wanted a minimum of 243 Raptors, and had originally envisioned flying over 300 of these fifth-generation warplanes, the most advanced in the world. The need is to replace aging F-15 Eagle fighters, of which 522 still serve. The F-15 first flew in 1972 and its performance has been surpassed...

America’s global primacy in the air power is currently teetering on a knife-edge. Soon, the US Senate will vote on whether to continue funding future production of the F-22A Raptor. If the Senate endorses the continuation of F-22 production, as sought by the full House of Representatives, the House Armed Services Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Senate Appropriations Committee, the United States Air Force has some prospect of maintaining its strategic position in the longer term. If the Senate votes against the F-22, the United States Air Force will enter a terminal death spiral from which it...

Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, director of the Air National Guard, said in a letter this week to Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) that he likes the F-22 because its speed and electronics enable it to handle "a full spectrum of threats" that current defensive aircraft "are not capable of addressing."

One of the Senate leaders on defense issues on Tuesday played down the Obama administration’s threat to veto a major Pentagon bill over additional Lockheed Martin F-22 fighter jets and a second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that he did not foresee a veto over the authorized funds for seven more F-22s and for a second Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) engine produced by General Electric and Rolls Royce. The Pentagon did not request any funds for either program for its 2010 budget. “I do not foresee...

The Photographers  Photo 1, U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Josue L. Escobosa, via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200907.htm Photo 2, U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald, via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200905.htm Photo 3, U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kyle Steckler, via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200907.htm Photo 4, A U.S. Air Force 90th Fighter Squadron F-22A Raptor stealth fighter intercepts and escorts a Russian TU-95 "Bear" bomber flying near the Alaskan NORAD Region airspace on November 22, 2007.

letter from Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to Japan's ambassador in Washington lists an estimated average unit cost of $290 million per aircraft for a theoretical export sale of 40 F-22 Raptors. Both Inouye and Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, and other lawmakers in both chambers are pushing both in public and behind the scenes to allow export of the stealthy, fifth-generation fighter. But a White House veto threat and persistent opposition from Pentagon leadership - as well as tenuous congressional support - are ratcheting up budget-making tension in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives was poised to approve on Thursday a $550.4 billion defense authorization bill for fiscal 2010 that has drawn a veto threat from President Barack Obama because it contains money for fighter jets he does not want.

Defense: By a narrow margin, a House subcommittee has voted to keep open the F-22 Raptor production line. The future of American air dominance and the fate of the world's most capable fighter hang in the balance.On May 30, with North Korea huffing and puffing about nuclear war, the first of 12 high-tech U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter jets landed at Kadena Air Base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. It was just days after North Korea unnerved the region by detonating a nuclear device. There were reasons the F-22 was deployed to Japan. The stealthy, radar-evading fighter jet is...

WASHINGTON -- A top Air Force general, swerving from the Pentagon leadership, said ending production of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 Raptor fighter jet, as proposed by President Barack Obama, posed a high risk to U.S. ability to carry out its current military strategy. "In my opinion, a fleet of 187 F-22s puts execution of our current national military strategy at high risk in the near-to mid-term," Gen. John Corley, head of the Air Combat Command, wrote in a June 9 letter to a senator. "To my knowledge, there are no studies that demonstrate 187 F-22s are adequate to support our...

A key House defense authorizer on Thursday predicted that Congress will likely fund as many as 20 more F-22 Raptor fighter jets, despite the Obama administration deciding to put the kibosh on the Lockheed Martin contract after the 187th airplane is delivered. The renewed fight over Lockheed’s F-22 comes as a surprise at a time when most lawmakers, contractors and the Air Force have all stopped talking about buying more stealthy, radar-evading fighter jets beyond 187. The final F-22 plane will be delivered by the end of 2011 or early 2012, after which the production line in Marietta, Ga., is...

Stephen Trimble—master of all things flying—has found this video that apparently shows a T-38 training fighter shooting down the theoretically invincible F-22 Raptor in a combat training exercise—first kill documented on video ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXmDj3mFrXQ&feature=player_embedded It's not the first time it has happened, however: An EA-18G—a modified F/A-18 F Super Hornet Block II—"got lucky" and killed another F-22 with an AIM-120 AMRAAM in a simulated combat exercise over at Nellis AFB. This is something that Stephen confirmed himself.However, this time instead of a high-tech EA-18G, the killer plane was this:A humble T-38 training jet, piloted by a trainer on a combat training...