F-22A Raptor erreicht IOP

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Seit 15.12. hat der Raptor die IOP!

F-22A Raptor goes operational
12/15/2005

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) -- The F-22A Raptor -- Air Force’s most advanced weapon system -- is ready for combat, Air Force officials announced here today.

In reaching initial operational capability, the Raptor is certified ready for operational use.

The first combat-ready Raptors are flying with the 27th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Wing here. The squadron’s deployment capability is a 12-ship package designed to execute air-to-air and air-to-ground missions.

“If we go to war tomorrow, the Raptor will go with us,” said Gen. Ronald E. Keys, commander of Air Combat Command.

Declaring the transformational stealth fighter “IOC” means the Raptor’s proven capabilities are available for combat and supported by a properly trained and equipped force.

It also means the aircraft is qualified to fly homeland defense missions.

“F-22A IOC means our warfighters now have an unprecedented lethal mix of air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities at their disposal,” General Keys said. “The Raptor’s cutting edge technology brings us continued joint air dominance despite advancing enemy threats.”

Reaching the IOC milestone culminates a collaborative 25-year effort between various Air Force organizations and industry partners. The road to the IOC included was a step-by-step process. The F-22A System Program Office first turned Air Force requirements into a successful acquisition program. Then there was developmental flight test and evaluation, simulation and ground testing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Eglin AFB, Fla. There was engine testing at Arnold AFB, Tenn., and missile testing at Holloman AFB, N.M., and over the Pacific Test Range. Also, there was tactics development at Nellis AFB, Nev., pilot and maintenance training at Tyndall AFB, Fla., and deployability here.

“The F-22A fulfills a long quest to bring fifth-generation capabilities of stealth, supercruise and precision to the warfighter today and 30 years from today,” General Keys said. “Now that we have met our first promised milestone of a fully capable, multi-mission platform ready for combat, we are already focused on furthering our integrated tactics development, refining our deployabilty, growing and training our force.”

The general said, “To add to what we learned on our successful first operational deployment to the Utah Test and Training Range to drop JDAMs (joint direct attack munition), fly against double-digit SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) at Nellis and work (close air support) with F-16 FAC-As, we will conduct our first routine peacetime exercise deployment by taking 12 Raptors to Alaska in June for Northern Edge.”

Designed to ensure America’s air dominance for years to come, the F-22A will ensure U.S. joint forces’ freedom from attack and freedom to attack, even as adversaries continue to advance their weapons and technologies, officials said.

“As I told (Air Force Chief of Staff) Gen. (T. Michael) Moseley, he and I have spent our lifetime executing, instructing and providing air dominance for the joint force. Lamentably, we have never been privileged to hold a weapon like this in our hands.

“After reviewing our test results -- seeing our operational deployment performance and talking to the pilots that will go to war with it -- I am confident the F-22A joins the combat force at a far more mature and capable level than any of our previous great aircraft, and will take its rightful place in a long line of U.S. Air Force legends of the air,” General Keys said.

Originalartikel zu finden unter: http://preview.afnews.af.mil/afmil/news/story.asp?storyID=123013572

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Auch ein Opfer des Irak Kriegs...

Air Force cuts F-117, B-52, adds F-22s

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The Air Force wants to retire the entire F-117 stealth fighter fleet by 2008 and cut the fleet of B-52 bombers in half, but increase the buy of its cherished F-22 fighter from 179 to 183 aircraft.

Program Budget Decision 720, the "Air Force Transformation Flight Plan," outlines the service's plan to save more than $21 billion between 2007 and 2011 and direct that money into programs that make the Air Force a "more lethal, more agile, streamlined force with an increased emphasis on the warfighter."

The closely held budget document, 14 pages minus its classified annexes, was approved by the Pentagon comptroller Dec. 20.

The Air Force has 52 F-117 fighters, a plane well known for its first-day-of-battle bombing runs. The service originally planned to retire the aircraft in 2011, but wants to push that up to 2007 and 2008, retiring 10 the first year and 42 the next, saving just over $1 billion by 2011.

"There are other more capable Air Force assets that can provide low-observable, precision-penetrating weapons capability," states the PBD, obtained by UPI.

Retiring nearly half the fleet of B-52s -- from 96 to 54 -- would save the Air Force $681 million in procurement, operations and manpower costs, and allow the service to eliminate or reassign nearly 4,000 airmen.

The document also terminates the B-52s stand-off electronic jammer system, used to jam enemy radar signals to allow fighter jets and other bombers to penetrate air defense systems.

"The Air Force assumes risk ... until transformational capability, not reliant on B-52 legacy platform, is identified," states the PBD, obtained by UPI.

As for the fleet cut, the Air Force recognizes it has an uphill battle to fight.

"Historically, the Air Froce has attempted to reduce the B-52 (total aircraft inventory) and Congress has repeatedly directed the Air Force to maintain the B-52 TAI at 94 aircraft. The Air Force is directed to develop a legislative strategy to gain congressional support to implement this proposed reduction to the B-52," the document states.

The B-52 was developed in the 1950s, and some of the same aircraft flown then are still flying today, with structural enhancements and upgrades. The B-52 has been a workhorse of the fleet. While it lacks the speed and stealth of the B-1 and B-2, respectively, it's ability to carry enormous numbers of weapons and its extra engines have made it a reliable part of the order of battle. It was used to good effect in the Afghan war, particularly when Taliban fighters were arrayed on open battlefields.

Through much of the 1990s the Air Force attempted to retire 18 B-52s and apply saving toward upgrading the rest of the fleet. Congress rebuffed it each time.

The document defers all but one budget "enhancement" to the Pentagon's office of Program Analysis and Evaluation: the F-22 fighter jet. That aircraft is due to receive an additional $1 billion between 2007 and 2011, for a total of $13.5 billion.

The Air Force plans to buy 60 F-22s from prime contractor Lockheed Martin beginning in 2006 and ending in 2010, extending F-22 procurement by two years and keeping the tactical aircraft manufacturing line "warm," which would allow the Air Force to purchase additional F-22s later. If the line is allowed to grow cold, restarting it can add hundreds of millions to the cost.

When it first developed the F-22, it contemplated buying more than 700 aircraft. That number has been repeatedly cut as aircraft prices ballooned and the program was restructured.

Most of the PBDs unidentified cuts come from what the Air Force calls "organizational and process efficiencies," that is, doing the same thing it does now but with less money.

The PBD also terminates the U-2 spy plane fleet by 2011. According to the document, that would save $1 billion by 2011, and allow 3,300 airmen to be cut or reassigned.

The PBD says the U-2 will be replaced by the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. However, according to briefing charts compiled by an airborne reconnaissance office in the Air Force, the two are similar but not interchangeable.

The most significant difference is that the U-2 provides broad area synoptic imagery -- that is, a static shot of an enormous area, the dimensions of which are unclassified. Such imagery is used both for treaty verification and also in preparation for battles; a single shot can show how an entire enemy force is arrayed on the battlefield. Follow up shots then can track movements. Satellites do not provide those broad pictures, but rather create less accurate "mosaics" through smaller area pictures taken after different times that then must be pieced together. The Global Hawk will not have a broad area synoptic capability, according to the Air Force charts.

In the three areas where the Global Hawk will supplant the U-2 -- Korea, Cyprus and the Middle East -- Air Force charts dated Jan 5, 2006, show a degradation in warfighter intelligence capability across the board in the replacement of one system with another. The Korean theater, first to see U-2 retirement, would be hard hit between 2007 and 2010, when Global Hawk's capabilities are still being built. The Middle East would be the last to make the switch, showing deference to the security situation there. However, according to the charts the broad area synoptic imagery, synthetic aperture radar, electro-optical and infrared capabilities of Global Hawk would fall short of the U-2 at least through 2012 in every theater.

The UAV is being upgraded with a new, larger airframe to carry a heavier payload to bring it more in line with U-2 capabilities, including a signals intelligence and imagery suite. However, it will not be flight tested until 2007.

Originalartikel zu finden unter: http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060111-030731-1819r