The US Air Force is holding a press conference tomorrow to
address lingering questions about the root cause of a series of hypoxia-like
incidents that have plagued its Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fleet since 2008.
Maj Gen Charlie Lyon, Air Combat Command's director of
operations, along with a panel of USAF experts will try to explain how the
service reached the conclusions that it did. The USAF is blaming the Combat
Edge upper pressure garment and associated hoses and connector for the Raptor's
well-publicized problems. But not everyone is convinced...
The problem for the USAF is that it has a credibility gap on this issue not only with the public and Congress, but with the pilots who fly the Raptor.
One Raptor pilot sums it up succinctly.
"There's one thing I know for certain: The Combat Edge isn't the culprit," he says. "But they're trying to show positive momentum."
Tomorrow, Lyon will have to convince the Congress (he's
briefing them in the morning) and the media during an afternoon press
conference that the USAF's official finds are correct and that the service has
finally gotten to the bottom of the problem.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, a squadron of
Raptors from the 1st Fighter Wing has safely arrived at Kadena,
Japan. The unit will train under the direction of the resident 18th
Wing. It's a reunion of sorts, Brigadier General Matt Molloy, the commander of
the 18th Wing, previously commanded the 1st FW until last
year. 
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