Air Force grounds entire F-22 fleet

Source: Air Force Times

The Air Force has grounded all of its F-22 Raptors until further notice because of potential malfunctions in the fighter jets’ oxygen-generation system.

Gen. William Fraser, commander of Air Combat Command, ordered a stand-down of the 165-plane fleet May 3, ACC spokeswoman Capt. Jennifer Ferrau said. Ferrau didn’t immediately know how long the Raptors will be out of service.

The On-Board Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS) has been under investigation since an F-22 crashed in November just outside Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. Until the stand-down, Raptor sorties had been restricted to an altitude of 25,000 feet or below for training missions because of the potential malfunctions.

Read more: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/05/airforce-grounds-entire-f22-fleet-050511w/

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edited with better link

Heh probably few remember, but I got an extra week of vacation when that fleet was grounded after the engines kept falling off.

just charming.

if most of our enemies (to date) don't have radar or such stations can be taken out by the B-2.

Goal is to stay ahead of the pack technology-wise.

Its stratospheric cost, utility and reliability is really troubling.

Could be used in future missions. I don't see it as being needed yet.

New F-15s are being built for foreign customers, but not necessarily with all the coolest toys. If we bought some new ones, they'd include all the good secret shit. We spend ridiculous money modifying our antique fleet of F-15s and buying/maintaining F-22s. But new 15s for other customers are rolling off the line right now, and the cost is peanuts by comparison.

Final orders were made in '09 according to wiki.

The advantage over F-15 variants are stealthiness, thrust vectoring maneuverability, etc... Things you can't just bolt on the old F-15 airframe.

You're right about not buying any more 22s though. My bad.

I guess it's a good thing we can solve this problem by just throwing more money at it. ...unlike those useless, faulty public schools we keep wasting so much on.

:sarcasm: ('cuz it's probably necessary at this point)

regardless of the tech that goes into it...a third of a Billion per plane is simply insane..and this does not even include the life cycle cost..which would be more than a Billion per plane

Unit cost: US$150 million (flyaway cost for FY2009)
Program cost: US$65 billion
Number built: 168 as of October 2010 (187 planned)

So, Lets assume the 65 Billion includes unit cost and development fees for all planned aircraft.
65B/187 aircraft = 347.6 Million $ per aircraft. If we use the smaller 168 number that cost per aircraft increases.

And THAT'S just the figures they admit to! No tellin' what the REAL cost is.

Well just don't build anymore, pretty sure nobody is going to invade us any time soon.