The F-22 can't do what???By Stephen Trimble on June 22, 2009 1:24 PM
Dave Majumdar's aerospace blog on examiner.com illuminates some stunning omissions in the US Air Force's upgrade plans for the Lockheed Martin F-22 fleet. My list of highlights from Dave's recent interview with the F-22 SPO:
1.The first 34 F-22s can not be upgraded with the Increment 3.1 air-to-ground and electronic attack and Increment 3.2 advanced air-to-air and networking upgrades.
2.The next batch of 63 F-22s will be upgraded to carry eight small diameter bombs, but they can only attack two targets at a time. These aircraft will never be able to fire high off bore sight missiles, which are swiftly becoming the standard for aerial combat.
3.The final batch of 91 aircraft are programmed to receive both the air-to-ground and advanced air-to-air hardware, but these do not include helmet-mounted cuing, also standard kit for latest-generation dogfighters.
So our F-15s have been getting pasted by F-22s, in air-combat excercises, that are dogs? Damn, just think how deadly they'll be if all the remaining bugs are worked out!