On 20 Jul 2018 20:05:17 -0700, Miloch <Miloch_member@newsguy.com>
wrote:
>more at
>http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/22307/watchdog-says-usaf-is-wasting-f-22s-on-patrols-and-deployments-should-consolidate-force
>
>The U.S. Air Force is reassessing the distribution and structure of its F-22
>Raptor units, as well as their assigned missions and deployment schedules,
>following a highly critical review of how it is utilizing the aircraft from a
>top Congressional watchdog. At present, the stealth fighters suffer from low
>availability rates and their crews have limited time to train for their primary
>air superiority mission, especially due to having to fly alert missions in
>defense of the United States, which could lead to a shortage in capability from
>the already small fleet during any potential high-end conflict.
<snipped for brevity>
The F-22 is a magnificent aircraft when it is actually capable of
flying. Unfortunately it seems that most of our 5th gen aircraft were
engineered like Ferraris and require massive number of maintenance
man-hours per flight hour. The largest ratio I have see is the B-2 at
124 - 1 and the lowest for active duty aircraft is the F-18E/F at
between 6/15 - 1 (obviously not 5th gen).
We night have thoroughbred combat aircraft, but they are only worth
the spare parts if they can't fly.
As for the F-22, the majority of the missions I have seen it used for
has been to intercept 1950's vintage Tu-95's off the West Coast, an
aircraft we could shoot down with an F-4 Phantom, if we still had any
flying other than as target drones (do we still have any in the wild
weasel role?).
I can see where unmanned combat drones will soon replace these out of
control 5th gen aircraft.
--
"Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US
national security. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active
Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the
sway of Mr Putin."
-Barry R McCaffrey, Gen (ret) U.S.Army
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