Posted on 06/30/2009 7:41:43 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Ex-F-22 engineer to sue Lockheed for stealth design
By Stephen Trimble
A stealth expert on the F-117 and B-2 programmes intends to file suit against Lockheed Martin later this week for concealing alleged deficiencies with the stealth coatings for the F-22.
The pending lawsuit accuses Lockheed of knowingly providing defective coatings used to reduce the aircraft's radar and visual signatures, and covering up the problem by adding 272kg (600lbs) worth of extra layers.
The lawsuit comes after the Department of Justice declined an opportunity under the Fair Claims Act to take up the case under seal.
Now, Darrol Olsen, who was fired by Lockheed in 1999, has turned to the US District Court in California's central division to seek justice.
Olsen wants to be re-instated with back-pay plus interest since losing his job more than a decade ago, says Samuel Boyd, Olsen's attorney. Olsen also is asking the court to order Lockheed to pay the US government $50 million for each of the 183 F-22's currently ordered, says Boyd. That amount equates roughly to the cost of the allegedly compromised stealth technology on each jet.
Lockheed was not immediately able to comment on the lawsuit.
Olsen began his Lockheed career in 1979 at Skunk Works, where he worked on developing new composite materials for the F-117, according to court documents. Olsen bounced between the F-117 and Northrop's B-2 programme during the 1980s, finally returning to support Northrop's B-2 flight test programme in 1990.
In 1995, Olsen finally joined Lockheed's materials and processes engineering group in Marietta, Georgia, to work on the low observables system for the F-22.
The F-22 requires three layers of coatings to reduce its radar signature, according to Olsen's statements in his case.
A primer seals the surface of the aircraft skin and helps with the adhesion of the next layer. Next, a conductive coating with silver flakes mixed with polyurethane materials is applied to keep radar waves from bouncing back to the emitter source. Finally, a topcoat layer has properties, including metallic materials, to reduce heat, which lowers the risk of radar detection.
"If those coatings are not effective, the other stealth measures of the aircraft's design are negated," the lawsuit says.
Olsen claims he witnessed Lockheed management misleading USAF officials about the quality of the stealth coatings. Olsen's supervisors instructed him not to speak at meetings with USAF officials.
In 1998, Olsen claims he refused to participate in an award ceremony that falsely honoured his team for solving problems he knew still persisted.
Lockheed also schemed to avoid government inspections of the coatings, secretly shipping batches of the stealth materials to the homes, the lawsuit states.
Although Olsen was fired for "failure to follow instructions" in 1999, the lawsuit says, he believes the problems have never been fully addressed.
In March 2008, an F-22 sustained major damage after a small strip of stealth coating inside the engine nacelle peeled off and was ingested by the fan blades of the Pratt & Whitney F119 engine.
In November, John Young, who stepped down in May as under secretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics, told reporters he was concerned about the F-22's stealth, or low observable, maintenance requirements.
"I would highlight in general the maintenance on the airplane is too high," Young said. "They're struggling with some of the LO and other issues, and there's clearly work that needs to be done there to make that airplane both capable and affordable to operate."
....The F-22 requires three layers of coatings to reduce its radar signature, according to Olsen's statements in his case.
A primer seals the surface of the aircraft skin and helps with the adhesion of the next layer. Next, a conductive coating with silver flakes mixed with polyurethane materials is applied to keep radar waves from bouncing back to the emitter source. Finally, a topcoat layer has properties, including metallic materials, to reduce heat, which lowers the risk of radar detection.
"If those coatings are not effective, the other stealth measures of the aircraft's design are negated," the lawsuit says.
Ping for later
He may have a case, but probably won’t win. I see garbage like this in business all the time. The business makes a promise and finds out it’s either too costly or not effective so they spin or distort the facts to make it like it’s not an issue.
True, businesses will do stuff like that, but there are also bad employees.
Never said there wasn’t bad employees. But my take is that this guy appears to have the morale courage to stand against what he thought was wrong. Which is commendable because it appears to have cost him dearly.
So the real question is was he just being too difficult to work with and worried over nothing? You know like the secretary that refuses to learn how to use a computer...he may have just been one of those guys that if it’s not his idea it’s no good.
Or possibly the company was cutting corners and trying to make more money at the expense of taxpayers and our military.
It’s a tough call on the surface, because there are a lot of bad employees and very few people with morale courage to stand against a big company like this. But then again we all know companies do this garbage all the time (actually it’s not companies that do it...it’s bad leaders/managers within the company that do it).
So the question is...do we have cheats in the management chain of the F22 and this guy has displayed rare morale courage? Or is this guys a bad employee?
We all know the F22 has some issues and if what this guy says is related to those issues...my money is on him telling the truty. Right now I’m saying 55/45 odds that he’s telling the truth. Still too close to call.
Wouldn’t the USAF know that there was ‘something’ not quite right the first time they ‘painted’ the aircraft with radar and got a larger return than expected?
My gut feeling is that it was more then just a small strip that came off. Sounds like a major problem if engines are being damaged from what appears to be paint flaking off. Sounds like a major cover up.
There was a report some time back of some Raptor vs Typhoon training, and the Tiffies allegedly got a radar lock from a longer range than expected ....
save
May explain why we are abandoning the project.
This suit holds some very serious accuations.
FedGov contractors - Nobody can deliver what we can promise....
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