F-22 or F-35

[Scoobie Newbie]

Is that real???  I thought the F22 wasn't in service "officially" for a few more years.

 

[midget-boyd91]

Is that real???  I thought the F22 wasn't in service "officially" for a few more years.

Nope, the F-22 was deployed to Japan about a year ago.. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123040309

2/8/2007 - HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFNEWS) -- The first overseas operational deployment of the Air Force's newest fighter is underway as 12 F-22 Raptors landed here Feb. 7 en route to Kadena Air Base, Japan.

The aircraft and more than 250 Airmen from the 27th Fighter Squadron from Langley AFB, Va., are supporting the U.S. Pacific Command's Theater Security Package in the Western Pacific.

Thirteenth Air Force is responsible for F-22 operations while they are in theater. Lt. Gen. Loyd S. Utterback, the 13th Air Force commander, stressed that the deployment is not in response to any specific situation in the region.

"The United States routinely evaluates its readiness and repositions forces throughout the Western Pacific to meet its security obligations. The F-22 deployment is the latest example of the flexibility that U.S. forces have to meet ongoing commitments within the region," he said. 

Midget

 

[tomahawk6]

There is an F-22 squadron, the 90th in Elmendorf.They will have their full compliment of 20 aircraft by the fall of this year. A few pic's at Elmendorf's web site.

http://www.elmendorf.af.mil/photos/

 

[midget-boyd91]

Those silly Russians refusing to go away, dont they know the cold war is over ?

It's always cold in Alaska (I'm guessing that would be where the aircraft in the picture is from), but come to think of it.. minus seventeen degrees here right now. Maybe I'll stroll down to Halifax harbor and check for some red submarines.
Sigh.. when will these double-doubles wear off and let me sleep?  :boring:


Midget

 

[tomahawk6]

The tail has the USAF marking of AK - Alaska.

 

[midget-boyd91]

You've got to hand this to those Russians though... those Bears really do look great in photos like that. We've got a picture lying around here somewhere of of my uncle (a different Uncle Boyd) in a CF-101 intercepting a Bear when he was with 416.

Midget

 

[tomahawk6]

He may have intercepted that same aircraft.

 

[CougarKing]

Those silly Russians refusing to go away, dont they know the cold war is over ?

Didn't I say that once myself in this other thread about Blackjack bombers over the Bay of Biscay? 

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/70021.0.html#new

 

[observor 69]

First intercept of the F-22 of a Russian bomber.

And who got the most intel out of this exercise ?

 

[aesop081]

And who got the most intel out of this exercise ?

I'm willing to bet that the Russians didnt get much out of it

 

[tomahawk6]

The F-15's were grounded during Thanksgiving when this intercept occured. Its not like the F-22 hasnt flown operationally before.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Manufacturing Defect At Root Of F-15 Grounding (text subscriber only, usual copyright caveat)
Aviation Week & Space Technology
01/14/2008, page 28
http://www.aviationweek.com/search/AvnowSearchResult.do?reference=xml/awst_xml/2008/01/14/AW_01_14_2008_p28-24589.xml&query=longeron

Printed headline: Flawed Eagles

One hundred eighty-two of the U.S. Air Force’s F-15A-Ds remain grounded because of unreliable primary structures that service officials recently discovered were poorly manufactured in the 1970s.

The upper right-side longeron supporting the cockpit of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C failed Nov. 2, causing the fighter to break in half behind the cockpit during a typical combat maneuver in training. The pilot ejected from the cockpit when it was inverted, and he survived with injuries.

Manufacturing errors that went unnoticed until now set the stage for this crash, and have manifested into major fractures in at least nine other F-15C models and produced defects in F-15A/B/D aircraft. The F-15 was originally manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, which was acquired by Boeing in 1997. McDonnell Douglas built the problematic longerons, and Air Force lawyers are now exploring whether Boeing will be held responsible. The process will be long, however, as records documenting the condition of the F-15s at the time of transfer to the Air Force appear to be lost but, according to the service, could have been destroyed years ago by the contractor. This is apparently a by-product of shifting some records to microfiche and of document transfers during the merger. Air Force officials say it’s typical for those records to be managed by the contractor, not the service.

This crack (upper right) found on a longeron of an Air National Guard F-15C at Kingsley Field, Ore., is similar to the one that caused the Nov. 2 crash of an F-15C in Missouri. Some F-15Cs act as aggressors, simulating enemy aircraft during air combat exercises.Credit: U.S. AIR FORCE

The dramatic structural failure prompted Air Combat Command chief, Gen. John Corley, to ground the F-15 fleet almost immediately. The later models, F-15E Strike Eagles optimized for ground attack, were returned to flight. They contain a different longeron—which is the primary structure holding together an aircraft fuselage—than those used for the A-D models.

In the course of the accident investigation, Air Force officials discovered the failed longeron was never manufactured to design specifications. The portion that broke is an area where it angles to connect the forward and aft sections of the aircraft near the rear of the cockpit canopy.

Nine other F-15Cs have been found to contain similar fractures in their longeron structures. The Air Force has inspected 90% of its F-15A-D fleet, and checks are ongoing on the remaining aircraft.

Of those inspected, 182 show manufacturing defects. They include the longeron structure’s being too thin, containing ridges that will not carry stresses properly, or roughness on the surface, which makes the longeron more prone to cracking.

The Air Force has not decided whether to repair these aircraft or retire them ahead of schedule. Maj. Gen. Thomas Owen, commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Ga., which oversees F-15 maintenance, says new longerons cost about $10,000 per unit. However, each one will require about $250,000 to install, a large bill for the already cash-strapped Air Force. This also calls into question an earlier plan to upgrade 177 of the most pristine “Golden Eagles” and keep them in service up to two decades beyond current projections.

“All options are on the table” to handle the gap. Yet, the Air Force is clearly leaning in the direction of buying more stealthy Lockheed Martin F-22s; 183 are expected, though the service says it required 381 Raptors prior to this recent F-15 problem. Uniformed Air Force officials are pushing hard to convince senior Pentagon civilians to extend the F-22 buy until the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter—an A-10 and F-16 replacement—is in full production.

Boeing is building F-15s for allies and could sell them to USAF. In 2006, Boeing offered to sell 150 F-15E variants with new active, electronically scanned array radars to the Air Force for $60 million apiece. They would be optimized for ground attack, although they could support the air sovereignty mission in the U.S.

Corley says his ability to ensure air sovereignty in the U.S. has been limited; F-15s are a primary component of the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s interceptor fleet.

F-22s and F-16s are supporting Norad’s mission, but the F-15 grounding has interrupted the pipeline for pilot training in all three fleets.

Last fall, the Navy moved the USS Enterprise from the Persian Gulf to the northern Arabian Sea to pick up the slack left by grounded F-15s in air support to forces in Afghanistan.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Bo]

Those silly Russians refusing to go away, dont they know the cold war is over ?

As impressive as that photo is, isn't it true that the Russians file flight plans before they cross into North American airspace? Kinda takes the lead out of the pencil if you know what I mean.

 

[George Wallace]

As impressive as that photo is, isn't it true that the Russians file flight plans before they cross into North American airspace? Kinda takes the lead out of the pencil if you know what I mean.

That's an interesting "tidbit".  With whom do they file those flight plans? 

 

[rz350]

I'm willing to bet that the Russians didnt get much out of it

Wouldnt a maritime patrol, recce or EW variant of the ol bear get some intel on the raptor from that? ESP about its Radar Emissions? (So they can update their TEWS to recognize the signature of a Raptor)

Yes, I am well aware that the Raptor wouldnt turn its radar on too often as it would give away its stealth. But if it wanted to intercept or fire and RGM's, it would have to it.

 

[vonGarvin]

Wouldnt a maritime patrol, recce or EW variant of the ol bear get some intel on the raptor from that? ESP about its Radar Emissions? (So they can update their TEWS to recognize the signature of a Raptor)

Yes, I am well aware that the Raptor wouldnt turn its radar on too often as it would give away its stealth. But if it wanted to intercept or fire and RGM's, it would have to it.

Unless it were "painted" by a third party

 

[aesop081]

Wouldnt a maritime patrol, recce or EW variant of the ol bear get some intel on the raptor from that? ESP about its Radar Emissions? (So they can update their TEWS to recognize the signature of a Raptor)

Yes, I am well aware that the Raptor wouldnt turn its radar on too often as it would give away its stealth. But if it wanted to intercept or fire and RGM's, it would have to it.

I will say that you are out of your lane here........thats all.

 

[Bo]

That's an interesting "tidbit".  With whom do they file those flight plans? 

Pentagon officials said USAF aircraft intercepted and escorted some of the Russian bombers over international waters in the vicinity of Alaska. NATO partners also ran intercepts. British Typhoon fighters over the North Sea escorted a 1960s-era Bear bomber, and Norwegian fighters photographed A-50 Mainstay AWACS aircraft and two MiG-31 interceptors being refueled by a Russian tanker in the vicinity of the North Pole.

A Pentagon spokeswoman confirmed that the strategic flights continued in the weeks following the announcement, at a rate of every day or two. This is a substantially higher operating tempo than in the previous years, when such flights were mounted only every few months.

She said that the flights were not provocative; unlike in Cold War years, the bombers made no dash toward US airspace, only to turn away at the last minute. Russian aviation authorities had been “completely transparent” about the activity, filing flight plans and issuing notices about where the airplanes would be going and when.

“There have been no incursions” into US airspace, she said.

http://www.afa.org/magazine/oct2007/1007watch.asp

 

[rz350]

I will say that you are out of your lane here........thats all.

Quite true. I was just throwing it out there, to see if perhaps my inking of aerial warfare was at all correct.

But yes, there are ways around that problem, and thinking about it again, they are probably employed.

 

[aesop081]

For reference, the Russians usualy stay in international airspace but inside the ADIZ, so thats why they get intercepted.