Posted on 08/17/2006 5:40:48 AM PDT by MARKUSPRIME
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- For the men and women taking care of the Air Force's newest and most lethal fighter aircraft, the F-22A Raptor, firsts seem to be a common occurrence.
Along with milestones by the 27th and 94th Fighter Squadrons have come new challenges in places such as Alaska, Utah and Florida that have left maintainers and weapons specialists scrambling to keep pace.
In June, 12 Raptors from the 27th FS completed their longest flight to date, from Langley Air Force Base, Va., to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. For the 18 pilots and 174 maintainers, it would be their first opportunity to show off their new capabilities in a joint exercise.
The exercise Northern Edge '06 in Alaska tested what their commander, Lt. Col. Wade Tolliver, explained was the interoperability between emerging weapons systems and current operational tools at the Air Force and joint levels. For Raptor crews, Northern Edge allowed them to integrate the latest avionics, stealth and super cruise abilities that were just some of the advantages that allowed the 27th FS to show off its superior air-to-air and air-to-ground tasks, and personnel recovery operations. At Tyndall AFB, Fla., the 94th FS put itself on the map with a series of firsts for the new fighter. The Langley armament crews performed a fit test for the new small-diameter bomb, a weapon that will increase the number of targets an F-22 can hit by 400 percent.
The squadron deployed the largest number of F-22s to date, 18, and fired the first supersonic missile launch from a Raptor over the Gulf of Mexico.
"We flew more than 400 sorties, maintained 20 pilots combat mission ready, dropped 40 JDAMs and shot 16 air-to-air missiles," said Lt. Col. Dirk Smith, the 94th FS commander.
For the Airmen who support this fighter, the last few months have been a mixture of fascination, euphoria and extremely long hours. Staff Sgt. Scott Brenner, a maintenance specialist with the 27th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, is excited about the new challenges, despite the heavy workload.
"It's an awesome experience being able to work on the Air Force's newest fighter," he said. "Its two Pratt and Whitney F-119 motors put out 35,000 pounds of thrust each. Plus, the thrust vectoring allows the aircraft to be more maneuverable."
Working with new systems can also be a challenge, and Airman Martin DuBois, a weapons specialist with the 27th AMU, said the F-22 is far from "business as usual." "From that day on, we spent most of our time not only being amazed by the incredible technology, but also watching it mature; and us along with it. It has been a pleasure to work with this incredible aircraft."
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Hey, did you photoshop that? ;)
144 : 0 kill ratio.
questions from the audience?
The pilot in this pic isn't exactly stealthy is he? :D
Thank you for the new wallpaper!
they're flares
Me too, me too. Log on just to look at the pictures.
'144 : 0 kill ratio.
questions from the audience?'
Here's one - how can it have a 144:0 kill ratio when it's never fired a weapon in anger or had an enemy fire at it?
On that basis, me armed with my old 1911 has an infinite kill ratio until my arm gets sore! ;-)
Great Vid...
http://tinyurl.com/rl5fv
BUMP!
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing --- so it a lot." --- Albert Einstein.
If we accept your question as a thoughtful, rational comment, you have discovered the scandal of the century.
Millions of gallons of fuel wasted, aircraft and pilots lost, all the result of the premise that it's not possible to create conditions under which combat can be simulated realistically without firing live ammunition.
Just think of the reward you will get as a whistle blower, as well as being the smartest man on FR!
You're rich!
But how soon will they have a prototype of a pilotless, hypersonic unmanned aircraft? Possibly next-generation ramjet engines for speeds of MACH-6 or higher, half the size of a piloted aircraft.
It's also vital that they be low cost, so we can have fleets of such aircraft all in the air at once. Some one-way expendables, most advanced dogfighters and anti-missile aircraft.
They are already planning for the F-35 to have a pilotless configuration. Read this.
http://www.air-attack.com/news/news_article/1980/Lockheed-Eyes-Unmanned-F-35-Amid-Push-Into-Drone-World.html
Yes, but imagine the same aircraft without any limitations due to "pilot space". If the aircraft is the same size, then it can carry another 1/2 ton of fuel, engine and firepower. If it is smaller, you still get a major jump in range and armaments.
In either case it can handle speeds and g-forces that would give it air dominance.
Still, the range of unmanned aircraft should be across the board from advanced expensive fighters to expendable, low-cost single use buzzbombs.
Red Flag exercises are quite realistic. The opfor teams the Raptor pilots flew against were among the best in the USAF AND the Navy. NONE of the OPFOR/Red team pilots wanted to get 'killed', trust me.
In 144 Blue/Red engagements, the Raptors got the kills. The Red team got NO Raptor kills.
You don't need warshots to have a realistic test in ACM.
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