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7/25/2005 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- As the midafternoon sun blazed on the Mojave Desert and thunderclouds loomed in the distance, a sleek dark gray war bird took to the sky to push the envelope of flight testing. At the controls, Maj. John Teichert, a 411th Flight Test Squadron test pilot, pushed the F/A-22 Raptor past Mach 1, opened the weapons bay and released a guided bomb unit-32 1,000-pound joint direct attack munition, marking the first time a Raptor has dropped a JDAM at supersonic speed. "Qualifying the Raptor to release GPS-guided bombs at supersonic speeds is...

DOD APPROVES LOCKHEED MARTIN F/A-22 RAPTOR AIRCRAFT FOR FULL-RATE PRODUCTION MARIETTA, Ga. , April 19, 2005 -- The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F/A-22 Raptor fighter aircraft has been given the green light by Department of Defense acquisition officials to enter into full-rate production. An acquisition decision information paper released by the Department of Defense on April 18 states “The Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) [Michael W. Wynne] approved the full rate production capability of the F/A-22.” This decision officially transitions the Air Force’s premier fighter program to a new level of confidence and maturity. “This is great...

Nellis pilot ejects safely before impact The charred wreckage of an F/A-22 Raptor aircraft lies at the end of a runway at Nellis Air Force Base, where it crashed Monday during takeoff. In the first reported crash of the military's next generation fighter jet, an F/A-22 Raptor slammed into the ground and exploded during takeoff at Nellis Air Force Base Monday afternoon. The pilot, whose name was not released, ejected safely moments before the crash. He was taken to Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital for evaluation. A Nellis spokeswoman said he was "up and walking around." A fire engine based at...

MilAir scanner sources indicate a new F22 Raptor has crashed at Nellis. Pilot was seen ejecting.

The first of a fleet of the world's most expensive fighter jet, the FA-22 Raptor, is being commissioned into the United States Air Force. The US military has ordered 277 planes, the first of which was due to roll out onto the tarmac at its manufacturing base in Georgia on Wednesday. It is to join a fighter squadron based close to the capital, Washington DC. The FA-22 stealth fighter can fly at 1500 km/h and still remain undetected by radar. It fires precisely targeted smart bombs and can engage hostile aircraft far beyond the pilot's vision. That is the impressive...

PALMDALE - The latest, high-tech military aircraft - the city's biggest claim to fame - would fall under the gaze of the world if an Antelope Valley float can be prepared in time for the 2005 Rose Parade. The float would be at least the second to represent the high desert in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. The first was entered in January 1949, according to Valley Press archives. The 1949 float was built around a children's poem titled "Wynken, Blynken and Nod," by Eugene Field. It was built in the shape of a shoe because the...

It made sense to kill the Crusader self-propelled howitzer program, a bulky cold war left-over developing so slowly it wouldn't be available before the Starship Enterprise. We also didn't need the Comanche stealth helicopter when our problem is losing choppers to low-tech ground fire. But the stealth F/A-22 Raptor fighter, with apologies to those who consider every new military project a boondoggle, we need this jet. And far more of it than Congress plans to buy. Even critics admit the Raptor is an incredible fighting machine. Slated to enter Air Force service next year, it blends key technologies that before...

The most advanced and sophisticated fighter ever created is proceeding on schedule, passing its test program with flying colors. "The F/A-22 is without question a marvelous airplane," said Lockheed Martin test pilot John Fergione. Fergione briefed attendees at the Antelope Valley Board of Trade's Business Outlook Conference Friday on the F/A-22 Raptor, the latest member of the Air Force arsenal. The aircraft's main attributes - the ability to fly supersonic without using afterburners, stealth, extreme agility and advanced avionics - are nothing new, Fergione said. What is different is to have them all in one package. "The F/A-22 is the...