new F-22 fighter

[grooving grandpa]

Wow, This F-22 is something else. I finally figured out how to post this. I feel like a Guru now.


FIRST FA - 22 FIGHTERS DELIVERED TO LANGLEY

These are Great In - flight Photos of the F/A - 22 as the first Aircraft Delivery was being made to Langley AFB in VA. Langley is to be first Operational AFB for the F/A - 22. It is a very beautiful AFB, located in a picturesque location, as you can see in these photos, near Norfolk and Hampton , VA.

The Aircraft flying along with the F/A - 22 in the last of these photos is the F - 15, which will be replaced by the F/A - 22 which is several times better than the F - 15.

In Actual In - flight (simulated) Combat Operations against the F - 15, two F/A - 22s were able to operate without detection while it went Head to Head against (8) F - 15s. The F/A - 22s scored Missile Hits (Kills) against all the F - 15 Aircraft and the F/A - 22s were never Detected by either the F - 15s or Ground Based Radar. Maj. Gen. Rick Lewis said: 'The Raptor Operated Against All Adversaries with Virtual Impunity; Ground Based Systems Couldn't Engage and NO Adversary Aircraft Survived'!

F/A - 22 - - America 's Most Advanced Fighter Aircraft for the 21st Century!!!!

They're a titanium and carbon fiber. They're so advanced that if their on board locator is switched off even our own satellites can lose track of them. They're the first military aircraft ever built that is equipped with a 'black - out button.' What that means is this ...The best conditioned fighter pilots are capable of maintaining consciousness up to in the vicinity of 15+ G. The Raptor is capable of making 22+ G turns. If someday an adversary builds a missile that is capable of catching up to one of these airplanes and a Raptor pilot sees that a strike is imminent, he hits the 'b.o.b.' and the airplane makes a virtual U - turn, leaving the missile to pass right on by. They know that in the process he'll temporarily lose consciousness, so the Raptor then automatically comes back to straight and level flight until he wakes back up.

Enjoy the Photos!

[Trailer Trash 2]

Great pictures, they will cost to much, I would think right now.
Are these just Ideas right now and just a drawings.

[db_engineer]

quote:Originally posted by Trailer Trash 2

Great pictures, they will cost to much, I would think right now.
Are these just Ideas right now and just a drawings.

Nope, the first one was delivered to Langley in May of 2005. See http://www.1stfighter.org/F22/F22pics-1.html for more photos and details.

[grooving grandpa]

These F-22 are for real. Some delivered to Langley AFB.

[KTManiac]

quote:Originally posted by Trailer Trash 2

Great pictures, they will cost to much, I would think right now.
Are these just Ideas right now and just a drawings.

It is pretty plain in the original post. The F-22 has been in the works for years (1983 I think). The first production F-22 was delivered to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, on 14 January 2003.

quote:Originally posted by grooving grandpa

Wow, This F-22 is something else. I finally figured out how to post this. I feel like a Guru now.


FIRST FA - 22 FIGHTERS DELIVERED TO LANGLEY

These are Great In - flight Photos of the F/A - 22 as the first Aircraft Delivery was being made to Langley AFB in VA.

Next in the funnel is the F-35 Joint Strike Force Fighter. On 15 December 2006, the F-35A completed its maiden test flight. The first production-model planes will be delivered in 2010 to the U.S. Air Force, and will go to Eglin AFB.

[Trailer Trash 2]

Boy do I feel dumb. I was looking at the underside of that F-22 and asking myself where in the heck is the cockpit at. Thats why I thought it was a new plane, boy, to much sun and heat for me today.

[wild willy]

We saw these flying over Alamogordo NM last fall. The city fathers were complaining cuz they were breaking the sound barrier. They are an impressive aircraft!

[Rondo]

I read somewhere that the new F-22's run about 23 million apiece! Just what we need to keep the economy going! LOL

[stiles watson]

Great looking craft!!

[Trailer Trash 2]

23 million that a bunch but not even close to what the carrier USS Bush cost.

[Dave e Victoria]

I remember when Norm Augustine, Retired Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, forecast that the price of fighter aircraft would increase faster than the general economy to the point where one fighter would cost the equivalent of the gross national product. He made that prediction back around 1970. The F22 certainly helped this forecast along to the point where it is sooo expensive everyone is afraid to commit it to combat. It has yet to be deployed despite being in active inventory for near four years.. Besides being expensive, it is not very well suited to the kinds of conflict we are now engaged in. No doubt it is pretty and pretty awesome in flight but it is going to be interesting to see if it makes the cut in the upcoming budget talks. Probably its own best attribute is the large number of congressional districts that contribute some piece of support to its manufacture.

[grooving grandpa]

Fortunally, we never have had to go up against anyone like Iran or North Korea that has good air power. Amen. A good defense is a good offense.

[db_engineer]

quote:Originally posted by wild willy

We saw these flying over Alamogordo NM last fall. The city fathers were complaining cuz they were breaking the sound barrier. They are an impressive aircraft!

Military Jet Noise -- The Sound of Freedom!

[Dave e Victoria]

HUH? Iran ? North Korea? Iran has approximately 750 fighters but only about 200 are near operational. The best of the lot are some 40 or so 30 year old F-14's with obsolete avionics. They have a bunch of F-5's, the fighter variant of the T-38 and a bunch of 60's era F4's. ( The US is at present converting the mothballed F4 fleet to target drones.) There are a half dozen Soviet SU25's and about 20 SU24's. The SU24's were upgraded by the Russians but are still considered largely obsolete by today's standards. One thing that makes you wonder is where do the spare parts come from to keep even a few of those old fighters of US origin operational

The North Koreans appear more operational but even less capable relying largely on Mig 21's and other 1950's era equipment. They do have a few Mig 23/24 and Mig-29's. Also, they may have between 40 and 150 Q5 chinese fighters. I believe this is the F-5 knock off the Chinese did about 20 years ago. The north Korean air defense depends on Soviet and Chinese designed vacuum tube Radar.

I don't think either Iran or North Korea could be used to justify the F22 even at the time it was being developed much less today.

[Bill-N-Donna]

Great looking craft. I don’t like some of the problems that our country is having but I’m glad that our government is on top of our defense!

[mail2us]

From limited knowledge on my part, Lockheed has about 95000 employees that directly work or are associated with the F22 Raptor and about another 1000 suppliers. I think each Raptor is about 25-27 million each.

DOD is currently reviewing to possibly reduce Raptor production which will in turn place thousands of Lockheed employees into the unemployed category.

As a proponent of a strong defense, hopefully the F35 Lightning group can be the alternative to such cuts. My fear is that DOD will be facing a steady focus on continued budget cuts over the next four years. The fallback would be the F35 should the Raptor be cut, which I personally believe will occur. Grooving grandpa gives us a great look and description of a magnificent aircraft built in America. Just my opinion. Dennis

[greener]

Astounding looking planes. My father was in the Army Air Force in WW11 and I`m sure would have liked to have seen these.

[grooving grandpa]

America's freedom is not cheap

[Dave e Victoria]

Dennis said,"As a proponent of a strong defense, hopefully the F35 Lightning group can be the alternative to such cuts. My fear is that DOD will be facing a steady focus on continued budget cuts over the next four years. " So far, this is not holding true as the DoD budget is increasing in the President's proposal. As to the F22, it is on the block because it is without a mission and Hz been cut back steadily in the last few budgets. It is up for review this spring and will most likely be extended for a small buy - not because they are needed but because congress will insist on it. Those 1000 contractor you mention are strategically placed in Congressional districts across the country.

The f35 is said to fulfill many of the needs of our defense and probably should be built. Being a bit of a cynic, I worry about how its price tag may creep up.

The sad thing is, these programs take so long in the development cycle that they are frequently most capable of fighting yesterday's wars before they get deployed. This problem is compounded by the fact that our Air Force is largely managed by the fighter pilot community. It has been like pulling teeth to get these folks to even consider drones. After years of resistance they are finally making it into our arsenal. The same is true for search and rescue aircraft and other similar less glamorous missions.
Bottom line, we need a strong defense - I'm all for it - but there are billions that could be saved with better management. I hope Gates is up to it. So far, I like what I see - even if it means we don't get a larger fleet of F22's. (by way of full disclosure, I hold stock in companies that supply both the F22 and the F35 as well as the recently revealed F37.)

[jjackflash]

Here's an interesting video!
Jack
http://tinyurl.com/62klj6