Second F-22 sqaudron operational in Langley,VA

Yahoo.com ^

[MARKUSPRIME]

March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The 94th Fighter Squadron, famous for its historic "Hat in the Ring" insignia and legendary aviator Eddy Rickenbacker, began receiving F-22 Raptors from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT - News) today. The two 5th Generation stealthy, air dominance fighters are assigned to the second operational squadron in the U.S. Air Force.

ADVERTISEMENT The two Raptors will join F-22s flying today as part of the 1st Fighter Wing's 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va. Lockheed Martin has completed final assembly on 71 of the 107 fighters now on contract, and 63 have been delivered.

"This is another great milestone in the history of the F-22 Program," said Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President and F-22 Program General Manager. "The F-22 will dominate airspace anywhere around the globe, around the clock, and survive in contested airspace better than any other aircraft in the world.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

They look like dolphins.

Seriously, I live north of Atlanta. Yesterday 6 fighter jets flew over the house in a west to east direction, fairly low and slow. I could not see if they were all the same.

The odd thing was they cut right through the normal landing path for the Atlanta airport which runs north to south.

Wondering if it had something to do with this. Is there a type of ceremony for new fighters?

Don't know the lingo, but I love watching those fighters fly.

[RunningWolf]

Yes and the X-15 program was never matched nor duplicated anywhere else either.

Wolf

[RunningWolf]

The F14 had the automatic swing wing, those huge tail planes, and all that power.

The downside was the 1st generation of turbo-fan(higher bypass) engines (lots of compressor stalls) coupled with the large gap between the engines. What was intended to be a safety factor became a new risk.

Wolf

[freedumb2003]

For its day, variable geometry was so far an advance that the Ruskies had a very tough time to keep up.

For an MRF, the F-14 was unparalleled

[Pukin Dog]

The TF-30 Engine was not so bad in and of itself. The primary problem is that the engine was designed for the F-111 and its form of variable geometry inlets. The Tomcat was never supposed to have that engine. Now, the TF-30 had its share of problems in both aircraft anyway, but the gap between the engines was never a real problem. The vertical stabs gave the Tomcat good directional stability in single engine operation.

[Minutemen]

Wolf: I investigated and found actual photos of that tragic incident:

XB-70 crash

[mad_as_he$$]

Yup I understand that it won't "work' that way - but if you're the F-22 driver and it DOES turn out that way one day -well..

I am also hearing rumors that the new Boeing UAV can be controlled from F-22's. So you set up 5 or 6 of them in front of you and then let the enemy "see" them - could be a real fun time!

[Tom Bombadil]

The F-22's role isn't close air support. That's supposed to be the job of the F-35 JSF.

That is true.

But can the JSF provide the clean skies they need in order to support the troops? Maybe the Marine wouldn't be aware of the F22, but the F22 is going to lay the battlefield foundation of clean skies.

[SevenMinusOne]

A bud sent me this pic a few weeks ago - Thought you might enjoy - A Rhino getting the best of one of our new Raptors with guns! - This Rhino pilot is apparently a pretty good BFM pilot shouldn't we say?

[yarddog]

OK, what is a Rhino?

[SevenMinusOne]

F-18 (Think this was one of our E versions) out of the VFA-103 -

[section9]

Lots of people worry about a surge in Chicom aircraft over Taiwan. The problem for the Chicoms is keeping the initial burst of aircraft in the air during the campaign. The logistics tail for an air wing must be enormous.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[SevenMinusOne]

Those new planes must be close to being Star Wars X-fighters.

Yes, in many ways they are. The F-22 is a fantastic aircraft and we most certainly need them -

But go see my post (#109) to see a Rhino pilot getting the best of one of our new Raptors (with guns no less).

[Uriah_lost]

Awww hell....we can't even find our subs most of the time. Every time one of our boomers checks in it's only because it's scheduled to. In other words we don't have the technology for them to steal. They are clever but we are inventive....we win every time in that deal.

[null and void]

I hope so. But there are inventive people everywhere. It's remotely possible that somewhere some clever soul will find a way to "render the seas transparent". When that happens I hope it's us, and I hope we aren't totally dependent on a single weapons system that is now exposed.

I've worked with entirely too many very sharp H1-Bs to underestimate the capabilities of the Chinese or Indians.

[Pukin Dog]

Sorry, but you are wrong. All one need do is read the HUD in that photo to see that there is no dogfight going on. That is just a frame lifted from a HUD camera video, that is all. If there was a fight going on in that frame, the Raptor would easily pull up and into the bogey, and considering the energy state of 179 knots nose-down, he would be a mort in 30 seconds. Considering that there is no apparent G on the Raptor, there is no fight taking place there. Your 'attacker' has no energy there to pull lead on the Raptor to counter either, he could only reverse to port and split down and away, to be ass-shot from a 9X.

Nice try, but your 'bud' is messing with you. Sorry I missed this post, I've returned to lurker status.

[Pukin Dog]

Lots of people worry about a surge in Chicom aircraft over Taiwan.

None of those worried folks are sitting on an AEGIS cruiser.

[SevenMinusOne]

That is just a frame lifted from a HUD camera video, that is all. If there was a fight going on in that frame, the Raptor would easily pull up and into the bogey, and considering the energy state of 179 knots nose-down, he would be a mort in 30 seconds. Considering that there is no apparent G on the Raptor, there is no fight taking place there. Your 'attacker' has no energy there to pull lead on the Raptor to counter either, he could only reverse to port and split down and away, to be ass-shot from a 9X.

Punkin Dog - My bud that sent me the pic is an active Rhino pilot with the VFA-103 -

Regarding there energy state? Couldn't that be due to a very intense dogfight wearing down to a conclusion? - Or my second guess would simply be the Raptor pilot lost visual and was soon toast (which is just another reason why the RIO F version of the F-18's makes more sense to me).

[Pukin Dog]

Regarding there energy state? Couldn't that be due to a very intense dogfight wearing down to a conclusion?

No.

I don't want to get into a long drawn out explanation of HUD symbology, but it is clear there is no fight going on in that picture. The video frame makes for great ready room discussion though. I would love to be giving a class to kids on "what to do now" from it. Trust me, if they were fighting, that Raptor would be half obscured in vapor as he pulled up to whip your friends ass. The raptor is unloaded and just cruising. Not typical behavior for someone getting gunned.

But it is a great frame.

[Mat_Helm]

Don't remember Hornets ever being called Rhino's as that was reserved for the F-4 Phantom. It is typical of kill shots from excersices between services to scend the offending proof to the killee's squadron either in electronic or hard copy format. The Hornet has 20.3 degrees alpha with the ghost velocity vector pegged to near departure of flight with little energy. As the G's he is pulling (1.7)nose down for a snap gunshot it could have been just the raptor playing with him and actualy let him get within visual sight for some one on one gun play. The hornet would already have been dead from beyond visual range. At some point the hornet pulled 7.6 g's to get into a shooting solution for guns, but for all we know the hornet may have already been dead and they never knocked off the engagement as some pilots just can't resist the chance to go eyeball to eyeball. In real life a raptor driver would never be that stupid to get low and slow.