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Why F-22s Cannot Fly Into Tomorrow
The Strategy Page ^ | March 14, 2007 | James Dunnigan

Posted on 03/15/2007 4:35:28 PM PDT by IonImplantGuru

Recently, American F-22 fighters were sent, for the first time, across the Pacific, to Japan, for a training exercise. This would be the first time the aircraft would cross the International Date line, where it is tomorrow, and the aircraft's GPS and navigation software would handle the date change.

There were problems.

All off a sudden the software that ran the navigation and communications systems wasn't working too well. Being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, this was a problem. Some of the pilots were able to reboot their software and make the problem go away, but this did not always work, so all the aircraft turned around and returned to Hawaii. Those aircraft that still had malfunctioning navigation software, followed other aircraft back.

The contractor quickly found and fixed the problem (the routines for crossing the International Date Line, and changing the date, were not well thought out and tested.)

To quote Murphy's Law; "Whatever can go wrong, will, and at the worst possible time."


TOPICS: Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: aerospace; f22; murphy; raptor
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To: Blueflag
Upon further review i retract my earlier post. Other articles indicate that they kills were F-15C's
141 posted on 03/16/2007 7:38:07 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Southeast Asian War Games, Second place.)
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To: mad_as_he$$; Blueflag
The article does state that hey were F-15c's.

Can you show me where that is? The only thing I found was:

Lt. Col. Dirk Smith, commander of the 94th FS, said that these aircraft losses stemmed from the aggressiveness of pilots, which was a good thing.

“They wanted to fly to the merge, they wanted to show” what such a fighter package can do “when you’re highly outnumbered.” Such exercises are “the perfect place to learn that kind of lesson ... so that, when it comes to real bullets flying, they’ve learned that.”

From the link:
http://www.afa.org/magazine/feb2007/0207raptor.html

That was following my previous excerpt. All this discussion was about the F-22's, not a different aircraft.

142 posted on 03/16/2007 7:49:50 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: jveritas
The Russians do not have any SAM system that is effective against F-15, F16, F-18, F-117, B1, B2. Out of tens thousands of sorties they will be lucky if they can shoot down 5 to 10 planes.

That's a stat that is 'true' until the day that it is no longer 'true'.

143 posted on 03/16/2007 7:59:50 AM PDT by Tallguy
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To: mad_as_he$$; Blueflag

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22F-22+LOSS+AT+RED+FLAG%22&hl=en&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-14,GGLD:en&filter=0


144 posted on 03/16/2007 8:02:01 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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Perhaps someone who has access to this source could confirm if it is correct. I do not. This is a copy of someone elses copy; I cannot confirm its validity.

ONE F-22 LOSS AT RED FLAG ATTRIBUTED TO BAD TACTICS: The U.S. Air Force says that its F-22 fighter's debut in a Red Flag aerial combat training exercise with coalition forces underscored the known attributes of the stealthy jet, though the demonstration did not include trials of its most exotic electronic attack capabilities. Employment of electronic attack tactics, which are inherently offered by the F-22's Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, was not included in the exercise that took place this month. The friendly "blue" force lost one F-22 during the exercise, Col. Tom Bergeson, who was the air expeditionary wing commander for the Red Flag, says. He attributes the loss to a confusing "mulligan," whereby an enemy "red" fighter regenerated or re-entered the fight unbeknownst to the blue forces. "We made some tactical mistakes and one slipped through," Bergeson said. Bergeson also praised software developers for a quick turnaround after the four lead F-22s of a 12-ship deployment to Kadena Air Base, Japan, recently encountered navigation computer problems upon crossing the International Date Line. "It wasn't anything catastrophic," Bergeson said, though the computers would not have been able to provide accurate navigation data to divert locations without the fix. But the decision was made to send the aircraft back to Hawaii as a "better-safe-than-sorry approach." (Aerospace Daily & Defense Report)


145 posted on 03/16/2007 8:06:10 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: grey_whiskers
What height was the satellite at which was shot down?

500 miles.

What height do the GPS satellites sit at?

About 11,000 miles.

However we hit the moon accurately which is much farther away. The key is that even though the satellites are moving they are a "fixed" target in that we know where they will be at any given time.

146 posted on 03/16/2007 8:28:32 AM PDT by Eaker (You were given the choice between war & dishonor. You chose dishonor & you will have war. -Churchill)
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To: buccaneer81

"Two slapped together with 30 year old spare parts F-14s and a dozen 40 year old F-4s hardly constitute an Air Force ;-)"

I didn't know their air force was that advanced. I thought it was a bunch of martyrs (homicide bombers) strapped with suicide belts flying ultralights


147 posted on 03/16/2007 8:59:54 AM PDT by rockthecasbah (The Shillelagh resides in Heritage Hall)
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To: thackney
Sixth paragraph under"Big Contribution", next to last sentence. (poorly written article IMHO):

To confront the F-22-led “Blue Air” collection, the joint force mustered its best “Red Air” threat—front-line F-15s, F-16s, and Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets. The F-22’s team blitzed the opposition with a favorable 241-to-two kill ratio. What’s more, the two lost aircraft were F-15Cs, not F-22s. The Raptors came through the engagements untouched

148 posted on 03/16/2007 9:33:17 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Southeast Asian War Games, Second place.)
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To: IonImplantGuru
Hmmm...they're not using UT (Greenwich)?
149 posted on 03/16/2007 9:58:36 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass ( just b/c, you suffer from paranoia, doesn't mean they're not out to get you. :^)
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To: mad_as_he$$

Thank you, since I quoted above and below that line, I sure feel foolish in missing it.


150 posted on 03/16/2007 10:16:39 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney

Don't, I had to read it three times to catch it. Like I said sloppy article.


151 posted on 03/16/2007 4:29:27 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Southeast Asian War Games, Second place.)
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To: stockpirate
If the F22 is in a sharp turn in combat it can use it moveable engines to turn the nose of the aircraft to point right at the other plane.

Negative on 'movable engines', pirate. What the Raptor DOES have is movable exhaust nozzles. The proper terminology is 'thrust vectoring.'

Click on the link for detailed info.

152 posted on 03/16/2007 5:07:37 PM PDT by IonImplantGuru (()
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To: capt. norm
That worries me, big time. They've already practiced this whole routine. I have always thought that the Chicoms were behind the sudden malfunction and disappearance of the Galaxy IV satellite. Mysterious "malfunctions" was the excuse given to the public, but no real explanation. Ever since Clinton sold them the technology via a convoluted route for them to contribute to his campaign, I have been waiting for the "other shoe to drop".

This is a crazy story without a good base of information to support it. As a former A-10 pilot and someone who worked on the C-5B program....the GPS technology is negligible when it comes to true ability to get your aircraft in the proper position at the proper time. Worst comes to worst, the pilot can use simple ADM (using AM radio signals) to guide his craft in the proper direction without fear of jamming or FMM (foreign means of manipulation).

This story REEKS of anti AF propaganda, and should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm sure if I drove my Lexus across the IDL the NAvCom would fail as well.

I would bet that this whole story was based on a 'beta' flight used to gather data for friction/response to the contractor. The F-22 is so far beyond anything the aviation world has ever seen I expect to see MANY postings like this in the future.

153 posted on 03/16/2007 5:22:40 PM PDT by GOP_Muzik (If all the world's a stage then I want different lighting)
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To: nnn0jeh

ping


154 posted on 03/16/2007 5:26:00 PM PDT by kalee (The offenses we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we write in marble. JHuett)
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To: GOP_Muzik
My whole point is that the Chicoms have proven that they can disable/destroy satellites.

They just DID IT a week or so ago in one of their "Tests".

That's the technology that bothers me.

We depend on satellites for a whole lot more than GPS. GPS is small potatoes when you stack it up against everything else that depends on those 'birds'.

155 posted on 03/16/2007 5:28:31 PM PDT by capt. norm (Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.)
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To: capt. norm

Don't let it bother you TOO much. And this is 2nd hand info because I'm no longer active.....but there are a few other 'redundant' systems out there that are, um, "unique" to the USAF to provide the info that you are so concerned about.

Remember that everything that is happening in Iraq has nothing to do with this.


156 posted on 03/16/2007 5:35:30 PM PDT by GOP_Muzik (If all the world's a stage then I want different lighting)
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To: KansasConservative1
"Why does everyone expect perfection with every American endevor."

Hey, now.  Americans ARE perfect.  I oughta know, IR1.

;^D

157 posted on 03/16/2007 8:23:19 PM PDT by RebelTex (Help cure diseases: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1548372/posts)
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To: stockpirate

Yes. Also have worked in the defense industry, A pilot, was In Naval Air.

Have you seen an F-14?

See that big tube under the nose. Know what it’s for and why it’s there?

Air Farce Hype

Read between the lines to see how it’s rigged.


158 posted on 03/16/2007 11:52:28 PM PDT by quietolong
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To: Eaker
How much fuel does it take to reach 11,000 miles? How long does it take for a kinetic energy weapon fired from the ground to reach that point, and how maneuverable are the weapons? With even 10 minutes warning, if the K.E. weapon has little guidance or ability to change course, we should be able to steer out of the way, at least for the first couple of shots...

And with warning of those shots, we'd damn well *better* nuke some of the launch sites.

Cheers!

159 posted on 03/17/2007 12:10:01 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: IonImplantGuru
As opposed to to the dismal failure of ... oh, let's say Naval bureaucrats in WW II in recognizing the real issues with Mk XIV torpedoes, which doomed many of my submarine forebears, before the problems were demonstrated and fixed 'in the field'.

Commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force (COMOPTEVFOR) was stood up by the Navy in 1943 in direct response to the torpedo problem and the magnetic fuses they used. Each of the other services also stood up their own Operational Test Agency (OTA) and the Department of Defense has the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) to coordinate and provide oversight on key weapons systems.

From time immemorial, no program manager has ever had sufficient budget and schedule to produce what is required. We all want the capabilities of our magnificent weapons systems, we just don't want to acknowledge what the really require in terms of resources.

As a result, testing is the last thing scheduled, and the first thing cut in any program plan. Rather than use aggressive testing as a tool to manage risk from day one, our procurement system rewards program managers for the active pursuit of risk avoidance and delaying any testing until the last possible moment.

As in the commercial software and IT worlds, the users become the testers.

160 posted on 03/17/2007 9:17:49 AM PDT by Natty Bumppo@frontier.net (The facts of life are conservative -- Margaret Thatcher)
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