R. Jeffrey Smith writes today in The Washington Post that the F-22 "has major shortcomings". The US Air Force says the F-22 costs $44,259 to fly one hour, compared to $30,818 for the F-15. An unnamed "critic" in the Department of Defense calls the F-22's maintenance problems a "disgrace". The reporter connects Darrol Olsen's allegations -- first reported on this blog -- with a series of operational test and evaluation reports criticizing the F-22's stealth coatings.
Smith also buries a major scoop about the March 25 crash of an F-22 six miles north of Harpers Dry Lake, California, which killed Lockheed test pilot David Cooley.
Smith also buries a major scoop about the March 25 crash of an F-22 six miles north of Harpers Dry Lake, California, which killed Lockheed test pilot David Cooley.
The Air Force has declined to discuss the cause, but a classified internal accident report completed the following month states that the plane flew into the ground after poorly executing a high-speed run with its weapons-bay doors open, according to three government officials familiar with its contents. The Lockheed test pilot died.Several sources said the flight was part of a bid to make the F-22 relevant to current conflicts by giving it a capability to conduct precision bombing raids, not just aerial dogfights. The Air Force is still probing who should be held accountable for the accident.
on July 10, 2009 11:55 PM | Reply
"John Hamre, the Pentagon's comptroller from 1993 to 1997, says the department approved the plane with a budget it knew was too low because projecting the real costs would have been politically unpalatable on Capitol Hill."
This is part of the 7/10/09 Wash. Post article.
It really says that Congress and the American people can't believe or trust our military to tell us the truth. They will lie in order to get what they want. So now, are we forced to develop an agency independent of the Administrative and Legislative branches of government to give the people and Congress an unbiased, apolitical estimate of the true cost of the military's needs?
Since the vast majority of the flag officer staff are graduates of the military academy's, I ask you "What happened to the Honor Code you once professed to follow?"
on July 11, 2009 11:23 AM | Reply
...please, all the Raptor bashing is annoying. How convenient to report on a "classified report" which nobody will lawfully be able to prove. I'm sure there is much more to the "ACCIDENT" than weapons bay doors.
IMO, it's our politicians that have "shortcomings".
on July 14, 2009 1:43 AM | Reply
The great thing about being an anonymous Pentagon source is that you'll sound in the know no matter what your level of knowledge on the subject. Smith's "several sources" don't sound too knowledgeable if they are unaware that the F-22 already has precision bombing capability with the GBU-32. It's no Strike Eagle, but the Edwards test would not have been trying to add this, only improve it. And since "weapons bay doors" could mean any of the Raptor's weapons were being employed, I have a feeling the investigation board will not back this rumor up when it is released.
on July 18, 2009 3:58 PM | Reply
Lockheed has to take a lot of blame for this. They used so many subcontractors they could not ensure quality control. They used that many subcontractors so they could spread out the work to as many states as possible so the F22 politically would be a liability to cancel. They show their greed because canceling the F22 wouldn't mean job loss because they also make the F35. Hopefully the F35 can actually be used for something.
on October 23, 2009 5:31 PM | Reply
It's another example of how 'Raptor' is the wrong name for the F-22...it should be called 'White Elephant'. Calling this "pilot error" is a pure whitewash of the situation; given our radio technology today, the pilot inside the plane no longer needs to be part of the equation, but try telling overamped, testosterone-filled fighter jocks and their budget-grubbing generals that. The F-22 answers stealth questions that NO ONE ELSE AROUND THE WORLD even bothers asking; we've already seen how "old tech" like the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18 dominate the skies. Consequently we have a billion dollar per boondoggle that we can't build enough to replace the aging and fatigued fleet of because the Raptor is so bloody expensive.