Aircraft

Maintenance shortfalls are continuing to plague the Lockheed Martin F-22A’s performance scores in operational evaluations. The Raptor’s follow-on test and evaluation period, which ended last November, resulted in a score of “mission capable”, a notch below the highest score of “fully mission capable”. The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center says the F-22A’s lower rating was attributed to “maintenance suitability issues”. Similar problems arose during an initial operational evaluation last year, but were intended to be corrected before the follow-on phase.