Another Al-Dhafra post-script for F-22

Though the deployment marked the F-22A's first \nextended test under such harsh desert conditions, with fierce sandstorms\n and 100° temperatures, and despite operating thousands of miles from \nits normal supply chain, the aircraft exceeded the USAF's expectations, \ndemonstrating impeccable availability and a higher-than-expected sortie \nrate. \"The maintenance group didn't know what to expect and so we took a\n generic support equipment package,\" Rogers\n \n said later. \"We pretty well got it just right.\" In the event, the \nF-22A operated at a higher tempo and with a smaller logistics footprint \nthan would be required by the F-15 or F-16 - aircraft types that have \nbeen deploying to the region since the 1970s.The 27th Fighter Squadron's CO expressed his \nsatisfaction with the progress that had been made, stressing: \"The \nproblems we had with software, avionics, sensor tasking and sensor \nfusion back in 2003 when I joined the F-22 programme have all been \nironed out, and we're transitioning to a great point in the next six \nmonths where the aircraft will truly be cost-effective and fully \nmature.\" He said he expected a real improvement in sortie generation \ncapability in the near future.

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