F-22 fleet grounded

[TT-1 Pinto]

Ma c'è chi dubita ....

 

F-22 pilots and engineers not convinced USAF has found root cause of Raptor's oxygen woes ....

Fonte - - http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/in-focus-f-22-pilots-and-engineers-not-convinced-usaf-has-found-root-cause-of-raptors-oxygen-woes-374893/

[Andrea75]

Un aereo da superiorità che si sposta con queste limitazioni perde molto del suo ponteziale. Sicuramente esistono aspetti 'classificati' della vicenda che noi non conosciamo, ma la funzione di deterrenza dell'F-22 viene messa in discussione. Non varrebbe la pena aspettare e tentare di trovare una soluzione definitiva al problema? F-22s arrive at Kadena, no reported oxygen problems

 

Air Force officials breathed a sigh of relief Saturday as at least eight of the first 12 F-22s scheduled to deploy to Kadena Air Force Base, Japan, arrived safely with no reports of pilots suffering the hypoxia-like symptoms that have plagued F-22 pilots.

...

The Air Force restricted the altitude the F-22s could fly from the U.S. to Japan to ensure the problems found with the altitude vest did not put the pilots in danger. Air Force leaders also chose a route that would ensure the pilots could land as quickly as can be expected when crossing the Pacific Ocean. At not point were the pilots more than a 90 minute flight from landing.

[madmike]

beh certo che il commento non è consolante: '.....hanno tratto un sospiro di sollievo quando 8 dei 12 F22 sono arrivati senza problemi.....'

[TT-1 Pinto]

Dopo i dubbi espressi in taluni ambienti .... ora l' USAF insiste ....

 

USAF reiterates that Combat Edge vest is the cause of Raptor’s maladies ....

Fonte - - http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-reiterates-that-combat-edge-vest-is-the-cause-of-raptors-maladies-374960/

[-{-Legolas-}-]

Bè, i segnali sono incoraggianti.

[TT-1 Pinto]

Un altro inconveniente .... ma questa volta, a quanto pare, l'ipossia non c'entra ....

 

Hawaii Raptor makes emergency landing, hypoxia not a factor ....

Fonte - - http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/hawaii-raptor-makes-emergency-landing-hypoxia-not-a-factor-375006/

 

La cosa singolare è che ormai, ad ogni minimo inciampo, il "Raptor" diventa oggetto di interesse dei media ....

[-{-Legolas-}-]

Si è vero, è una questione molto sentita in USA, tanto che Panetta viene aggiornato praticamente quotidianamente perchè sta a lui la decisione di togliere il limite dei 44.000 ft al Raptor.

[madmike]

considerando che parliamo di quello che è probabilmente il miglior caccia del mondo, e certamente il piu costoso, mi pare che l'interesse sia legittimo.

[Andrea75]

Segnalo un articolo (peraltro già postato nel topic "AIM-9X" delle armi aria/aria) che riepiloga gli upgrade del Raptor USAF's efforts to upgrade the Raptor e qui

 

Quelli già installati

Increment 3.1 adds synthetic aperture radar (SAR) ground mapping capability with which the Raptor will be able to select its own ground targets. It also allows the Raptor to carry eight satellite-corrected inertially-guided 113kg (250lb) Small Diameter Bombs (SDB). The upgrade allows a pilot to manually designate two ground targets at a time using two weapons each, which enables an F-22 to hit four separate targets with its eight weapons.

The USAF's previous Increment 2 configuration enabled each aircraft to strike two fixed targets using its two 454kg (1,000lb) Joint Direct Attack Munition satellite-corrected, inertially guided bombs.

The configuration also provides for improved electronic attack of enemy air defences and an upgraded geo-location capability.

"Currently, 10 aircraft have received the Increment 3.1 upgrade and by the end of 2012 we will have 23 aircraft retrofitted with the Increment 3.1 capabilities," says Col John Williams, chief of the F-22 modernisation branch at the USAF Aeronautical Systems Center. "The current plan calls for all combat-coded aircraft to be retrofitted with the Increment 3.1 upgrade."

...

Every Raptor from tail number 03-4045 through 10-4195 will be upgraded with Increment 3.1, according to Air Combat Command (ACC).

In the coming years, the F-22 will become more lethal still.

 

 

e quelli futuri

In 2014, the USAF will start to field Increment 3.2A. The software-only modification "incorporates new electronic protection techniques and improves the situational awareness of the pilot with the addition of new combat identification techniques", Williams says. It will also correlate data from the Link 16 data-link and fuse it with the F-22's integrated sensors.

That effort will be followed up with an Increment 3.2B upgrade. A Milestone B decision to go ahead with the procurement of Increment 3.2B is planned for December 2012, Williams says. "Kit procurement begins in fiscal year [2016] with kit deliveries in [the third quarter of] fiscal year [2017] and initial installations completed in [the first quarter of fiscal year [2018]," he says.

Increment 3.2B is a hardware and software upgrade that will fully incorporate the AIM-120D and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles in addition to further upgraded geo-location and electronic protection capabilities.

But according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, it will no longer add the capability to independently re-target eight SDBs at eight separate targets or an automatic ground collision avoidance system (Auto-GCAS). A USAF Scientific Advisory Board study on the Raptor's ongoing oxygen system woes has recommended that an Auto-GCAS be implemented.

Increment 3.2B is a much more complicated upgrade than the previous efforts.

"We will be implementing a new enhanced stores management system, increasing the ability of the aircraft to communicate with the weapons," Williams says. "This change will provide a common split-bus architecture for the Block 30/35 aircraft to support the increased communication requirements of newer weapon systems."

However, the USAF cannot wait until 2017 to launch its newest air-to-air weapons from the Raptor. The service is planning to add a "rudimentary" capability to carry both the AIM-9X and AIM-120D before Increment 3.2B is completed.

The AIM-120D will be added first in Update 4, which the service plans to release to the fleet in 2013. The AIM-9X will be added in Update 5, which is set for a 2015 release. "The AIM-9X effort in Update 5 also serves as a risk reduction activity for Increment 3.2B," Williams says.

Every aircraft from Tail 03-4045 onwards will receive Increment 3.2A and B, says ACC. According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, the cost of the Raptor upgrade programme will total about $9.7 billion.

A further update called Increment 3.2C has recently been renamed Increment 3.3, but the capabilities that it might include have not yet been defined. Williams says it will focus on making sure the Raptor remains compatible with new air traffic control systems.

"The effort will be focused on maintaining airspace access and endeavour to include all of the current airspace mandates like Mode S and Mode 5 as well as other FAA/ICAO mandated requirements," he says.

The F-22 System Program Office is still working on trying to graft an open systems architecture to the jet's computers.

[TT-1 Pinto]

Numerose mogli di piloti di F-22 hanno notato particolari cambiamenti nello stato di salute e nel comportamento dei loro mariti ....

 

Despite investigation, safety concerns linger on F-22 ....

 

In a lengthy interview with the Star-Telegram, Joanna Tinsley said her husband experienced big changes during the last few months of his life .... [he] suffered headaches, his appetite diminished, and he had trouble sleeping. He was plagued by a chronic cough, a common problem for F-22 pilots .... she can't help but believe that the Air Force's prized fighter is a health risk. Something about the F-22, she theorizes, may have triggered her husband's suicide.

Fonte .... http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/08/25/4206035/safety-concerns-linger-after-f.html

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

Se solo si fossero mossi in tempo ....

 

Air Force Group Warned of Stealth Jet’s Oxygen Woes Years Ago ....

 

Years before the Air Force faced a crisis with the oxygen systems on its premier stealth jet, a group of Air Force officers warned that the expensive F-22 Raptor could choke its pilots.

Yet the Air Force, in the name of saving money, let the problem fester.

....

 

As far back as 2005, a group of Air Force technical experts calling themselves the RAW-G, for Raptor Aeromedical Working Group, warned that the oxygen system on the F-22 needed an upgrade.

....

 

The solution the RAW-G proposed would have cost approximately $100,000 per plane.

The F-22 Raptor costs, depending on how you count, between $137 million and $678 million per plane.

“The cost was considered prohibitive in light of other items that people wanted funded for the F-22,” the head of the RAW-G, who retired from the Air Force in 2007, told the AP.

Fonte .... http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/09/f-22/

[Scagnetti]

L'USAF rimuove la maggior parte delle restrizioni operative per i Raptor. Rimangono in vigore limitazioni sull'altitudine

 

 

Fonte - - http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/usaf-removes-bulk-of-f-22-operating-restrictions-379056/

 

Nell'articolo, notizie anche sul recenti esercitazioni con forze amiche, che potrebbero dare un po' di luce sui famosi "Raptor kills" virtuali da parte degli EFA tedeschi.

[TT-1 Pinto]

 

Fonte - - ..........................

Scagnetti .... che fai .... mi copi ?

 

:D/>

[Scagnetti]

Ho copiato spesso il tuo modo sintetico ed efficace di inserire i link, dandoti il giusto credito.

 

Questa volta ho dimenticato di inserire "mod Pinto on/off" nel mio post

 

Alla prossima, sperando che il Sopwith Camel ---- oooopppss, l'F-22, risolva in pieno ogni problema.

[Scagnetti]

E un nuovo crash di un F-22: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/11/ap-f22-crash-highway-tyndall-111512/

 

The Associated Press

Posted : Thursday Nov 15, 2012 18:07:46 EST

 

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — An Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet crashed near a Florida Panhandle highway Thursday, but the pilot was able to eject safely and there were no injuries on the ground, the military said.

 

 

The cause of the crash isn't clear, but the Air Force has been trying to address problems with the $190 million aircraft for several years. In 2008, pilots began reporting a sharp increase in hypoxia-like problems, forcing the Air Force to finally acknowledge concerns about the F-22's oxygen supply system. Two years later, the oxygen system contributed to a fatal crash. Though pilot error ultimately was deemed to be the cause, the fleet was grounded for four months in 201

 

Ma che stanno cercando di battere il record dei Rafale ed F-10*?

 

Pardon, magari qualcuno su questo forum si offende se si parla di un numero alto di F-10* caduti.

 

Quanti Raptor rimangono in servizio a questa data in USAF?

Modificato 16 Novembre 2012 da Scagnetti

[TT-1 Pinto]

Quanti Raptor rimangono in servizio a questa data in USAF?

182 .... secondo quanto riporta "Flight International ....

 

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/f-22-crashes-at-tyndall-pilot-safe-379091/

[TT-1 Pinto]

Vedo che Andrea75 ha aperto un thread separato su questo argomento ....

 

Comunque .... sul "Daily Report" dell'AFA di questa mattina è stata pubblicata qualche informazione sull'esito dell'inchiesta relativa ad un incidente occorso ad un altro F-22 alcuni mesi fa ....

 

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/DRArchive/Pages/2012/November%202012/November%2016%202012/PilotErrorCausedF-22AccidentatTyndall.aspx

 

"Modico" il costo delle riparazioni dell'aereo ....

 

However, the Raptor suffered damage that will take an estimated $35 million to repair ....

 

:woot:/>

[TT-1 Pinto]

Più ossigeno ....

 

"F-22s Finally Fit to Fly" .... https://medium.com/war-is-boring/e26dda6af520