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Air Force leaders provided an update on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board study into the F-22 Raptor life support systems and flight operations during a briefing in the Pentagon March 29. Retired Gen. Gregory Martin, an aviator and a former commander of two major commands, chaired the nine member SAB team which studied the aircrafts' on-board oxygen generation systems and briefed its findings and recommendations in trying to determine a root cause for pilots experiencing unexplained physiological events with the F-22 Raptor. "From April 2008 until May 2011, the Air Force experienced 14 physiological incidents with the fleet of...

The Air Force and Lockheed Martin have a plan to make the most of the F-22 fleet. As always, money will be an issue. By the end of next month, the last F-22 Raptor built—tail No. 4195—should complete final checkout tests, take off from Lockheed Martin’s plant at Marietta, Ga., and fly to its new home at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Lt. Col. Paul D. Moga, once Air Combat Command’s F-22 demonstration pilot, and now commander of the 525th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf, will fly it there. As that last delivery flight takes place, the Air Force will confront a long...

A US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) panel investigating a series of hypoxia-like incidents afflicting pilots flying the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor has not discovered what is causing the problem, but service officials vow they will find the root cause. "I am convinced there is a root cause," says Maj Gen Charles Lyon, Air Combat Command's (ACC) director of operations. "I want everyone to know--particularly those who operate it and their families--we will not rest until we find that root cause." The USAF is continuing to test the F-22's life-support systems to try to determine what is still causing...

Air Force is replacing handles that engage the F-22 Raptor fighter jet's emergency oxygen system after pilots reported feeling lightheaded and the death of a captain whose $143 million aircraft took a nosedive into a mountain range in Alaska. Capt. Jeffrey Haney was killed in November 2010 during a night mission about 100 miles north of Anchorage. An accident investigation found that the plane's controls and switches contributed to the crash, particularly an emergency oxygen system activation ring on the back edge of the ejection seat. The report found that the two-step process to manually activate the system required the...

The Air Combat Command director of operations visited a detachment at Luke on Monday to recognize the unit for designing an important safety feature for the F-22 Raptor. "This is really an important thing you have done for the Air Force and the F-22 fleet," Maj. Gen. Charles Lyon, ACC director of operations, told leadership at Detachment 1, ACC Training Support Squadron, a tenant unit at Luke. The modification is to the F-22's Emergency Oxygen System handle, which makes it easier for the pilot to access. Det 1 model makers Floyd Slinker and Terry Waugh designed it. Approximately 200 handles,...

The U.S. Air Force is still having problems with the pilot's air supply in its F-22 fighters. Recently, there were three more cases of F-22 pilots apparently experiencing problems. The term "apparently" is appropriate because the pilots did not black out and a thorough check of the air supply system and the aircraft found nothing wrong. There have been nearly 30 of these "dizziness or disorientation" incidents in the last four years. That's about one incident per hundred sorties. Only one F-22 has been lost to an accident so far and, while that did involve an air supply issue, it...

Three months after the Air Force placed blame squarely on an F-22 fighter pilot who died when he crashed in the service's most expensive plane after his oxygen system failed in mid-air, a top Air Force official is apparently backtracking -- saying that the pilot was not blamed and that he did the best he could in the situation he was in. "We did not assign blame to the pilot," U.S. Air Force chief of staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said before a House subcommittee Tuesday when asked about the crash and the troubled F-22 program by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.,...

US Air Force leaders are considering a redesign of the Lockheed Martin F-22 but still have no answers for the oxygen system breakdowns responsible for another operational disruption. F-22s based in Alaska were grounded for one day in mid-February after three separate pilots reported hypoxia symptoms, the Air Combat Command confirmed to Flightglobal. It was at least the third temporary stand-down for the F-22 since the USAF deactivated the entire fleet for four months until last September. But air force officials are no closer to identifying the cause of the string of incidents, including one fatal crash in November 2010...

As if to call out the absurdity of Democratic plans to run against George W. Bush's record this November, a crop of young Republicans - who weren't in office back then - is eagerly taking on establishment Democratic politicians. Adam Kinzinger, running in Illinois' 11th District, is one example of this trend. Less than 2 years old when Ronald Reagan won his first presidential election, Kinzinger is seeking office in President Obama's home state. ...internal poll shows Kinzinger leading the incumbent opponent by 11 points. ...Kinzinger has an impressive resume. He served in the Air Force Special Ops, Air Combat...

Did you ever think the day would come when an Eagle would not be the most familiar sight in the Langley sky? Sadly, in the months to come, the very sight of an Eagle soaring across the Langley sky will soon become an uncommon phenomenon. Moreover, after a 34-year proud heritage, it is time for "the changing the guard" at Langley Air Force Base. The mighty F-15 Eagle will step aside and allow the "new kid on the block," the F-22 Raptor, to don the crown and set in motion a storyline that will someday solidify its own place in...

The 2006 QDR called for the Air Force to develop a next generation bomber to be ready by 2018; an initiative that promptly went nowhere. Now, the very term “next generation bomber” is “dead” in the halls of the Pentagon, reports John Tirpak, citing comments made yesterday by Air Force Lt. Gen. Philip Breedlove, deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and requirements. Breedlove says what is being discussed is something much smaller than the NGB would have been, and though stealthy, it will not be designed to penetrate dense SAM belts like the NGB. It will be more of...

On one August day last year, some US ground troops were preparing to move out down a certain dangerous road in Afghanistan. SrA. Andres Morales of the Air Force had a related mission. As it happened, his mission grew and grew. At first, Morales was tasked to supply intelligence information about three specific points of interest along that Afghan road route. Morales, an analyst in DGS-2, USAF’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) node at Beale AFB, Calif., provided the information within minutes. It was based on a blend of imagery and electronic communications signals captured by the sensors on surveillance...

Testing of the Lockheed Martin Sniper Targeting Pod on board the B-1B Lancer bomber has been accelerated in recent and is nearly completed, leading to the Air Force's Air Combat Command plans to approve sending pod-equipped bombers on operational missions by mid-summer. Because the sniper pod is a desperately needed capability in theater, Edwards Global Power Bomber Combined Test Force and the 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, combined the operational and developmental testing of a B-1B Lancer to accelerate the integration of the sniper targeting pod with the B-1B bomber. "Everyone at the here...

Opening Night In Baghdad By David A. Fulghum In what may have been one of the most rapidly executed missions of the war so far, two F-117s of the 8th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron planned, loaded weapons, flew to Baghdad and bombed a residence where Saddam Hussein was spending the night--all in 4 hr. One of the two F-117s involved in the first night attack on Saddam Hussein and his sons returns to its Middle Eastern base after the no-notice mission. For the Mar. 19 mission that kicked off the conflict, members of the target cell in the combined air operations...