FLUG REVUE January 2006: F/A-22 Raptor enters service

January 2006

F/A-22 RAPTOR: FIRST SQUADRON REACHES IOC

By Karl Schwarz

Back in 1976 the 27th Fighter Squadron was the first operational unit in the US Air Force to be equipped with the then state-of-the-art F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter. Now this historic squadron, whose roots date back to the First World War, is once again at the forefront of technological advances. “We all have the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time,” says Major Charles Corcoran, squadron assistant director of operations, with enthusiasm. “Our job is to turn the visions of air dominance associated with the F/A-22 into reality,” adds squadron commander Lt. Col. James “Scorch” Hecker.

F/A-22 Raptor

Only a year ago, this squadron, which has been stationed in Langley AFB since 1975, had been virtually decimated. “Our F-15C's were divided up between the two other squadrons at the base, and our personnel was cut back to myself, our director of operations and four pilots,” Hecker recalls. After a three-month conversion training course at Tyndall AFB, he ferried the first Raptor earmarked for flying operations back to Virginia from Florida on 18th January. A second loaned aircraft followed on 15 March, while a pre-production aircraft which was needed to train maintenance personnel had already arrived from Edwards AFB on 7 January. From May onwards, Langley then received an average of two F/A-22's per month directly from the final assembly line in Marietta, Georgia. One of these was the 50th of USAF's Raptors, which Captain Geoff Lohmiller was able to collect on 28 September.

By then, the ranks of trained pilots in the 27th Fighter Squadron had swollen to a dozen or more. Their first deployment with the new type, exercise Combat Hammer, was scheduled for 15-28 October. During their time at Hill AFB in Utah, the first simulated air-to-ground missions, including the release of 450kg JDAM bombs, were conducted on 18 October. All the weapons released hit their targets even though for many of the pilots this was a new role.

The high point on which the deployment ended was a series of sorties against simulated air defence positions on the extensive grounds of Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. “If we had flown these missions with legacy aircraft, we would be dead now,” Captain Geoffrey Lohmiller, 27th FS weapons and tactics chief, is certain. “With previous fighters we would have had to plan our route around the threat. Now we have the capability to penetrate even heavily defended areas.”

While the pilots all gushed over their new aircraft with the usual enthusiasm, the maintenance specialists were more cautious. “The support elements of the weapon system are still in need of improvement. Amongst other things, we need to work on the spare parts packages especially. But now we have sufficient data to be able to concentrate specifically on the weaknesses and eliminate them,” explains Captain James Jernigan of 1st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

“The exercise gave the squadron and the 1st Fighter Wing invaluable experience in the run-up to operational readiness,” said squadron leader Lt. Col. Hecker. And according to General Ronald E. Keys, commander of Air Combat Command, initial operational capability (IOC) should be formally declared before the end of 2005.

In parallel to the introduction of the Raptor with the first operational squadron, the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis AFB completed the follow-on test and evaluation phase (FOT&E) between 29 August and mid-October. The objective was amongst other things to demonstrate with seven F/A-22's configured with the latest equipment build that the maintenance and reliability problems experienced last year during the operational evaluation (IOT&E phase) had now been cleared. The automatic diagnostic systems, the availability of spare parts and the time consuming maintenance of the radar-absorbent surfaces had all come in for criticism at that time. According to F/A-22 programme director Major General Richard B. H. Lewis, the Raptor is now “better than the average of the fighters that we currently have in our inventory.” The aim is to achieve 85 percent availability, which represents a major improvement on the present average for in-service fighters of only 75 percent.

The flight trials focused on the air-to-ground capabilities of the Raptor, on which the Air Force is placing more and more emphasis. 16 JDAM releases above the Utah Test and Training Range were included in the test programme, while five AIM-120 AMRAAM's were to be fired over the White Sands Missile Range. The scenarios enacted included strategic attacks on high-value targets in areas with heavy air defences and tactical missions against enemy troops who are protected by good air-to-ground missile systems. The F/A-22 is apparently particularly in its element during offensive counter-air missions in which enemy fighters and air defence positions are taken out.

The Raptor is not yet optimally equipped for such missions. For one, the APG-77 radar from Northrop Grumman is not yet able to generate surface maps and Link 16 is currently configured only as a receiver. Moreover, two JDAMs is quite a small warload, which is why the lighter Small Diameter Bombs (up to eight) are to be qualified over the next few years.

Thus the Combined Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base has its work cut out for some time to come. The Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) programme contracted on 2 August 1991 will be completed by the end of this year. The last remaining trials aimed at elucidating the aircraft's behaviour at the extremes of the permitted flight envelope were completed in the autumn. Trials with the complex avionics had already been concluded by then. This part of the programme alone required the F/A-22 to be airborne for almost 2,600 hours. Test flying time has totalled over 6,000 hours.

After numerous problems, delays and significant increases in costs, the Raptor finally appears to be delivering what it promised from a technical point of view, namely, to prevail over every conceivable adversary in the next few decades. However, the jubilation is somewhat subdued both at the manufacturer's and the US Air Force, for over the years the unit numbers which the US government intends to purchase have been constantly revised downwards. The latest blow came in December 2004 when the Pentagon announced in programme budget decision 753 that the numbers to be procured would be cut back to 179 aircraft, which means that the last orders will fall as early as fiscal year 2008. At present there are 107 F/A-22's on the order book.

Naturally the Air Force is unhappy with these numbers for its most important programme. It will therefore be tireless in its efforts to emphasise the critical role to be played by the Raptor in maintaining American air dominance world-wide. “The aircraft from the Cold War are still being built and delivered all over the globe,” says General John P. Jumper, Chief of Staff of USAF up to September. “But more threatening to us is a new generation of ground-to-air guided missiles which is also available around the world.” Against this threat, the F-15 is gradually running into difficulties, whereas to the F/A-22 it should present no problems. “Two Raptor pilots can take out over six of the enemy almost effortlessly. Certainly we would not be in a sweat. It would take quite a few of the enemy to really challenge us,” says Lt. Col. Robert Garland, who attended the field trials last year.

The Air Force has stated that it needs 370 aircraft so that it can field one operational squadron for each of the ten expeditionary air forces. But present plans allow only for five. Whether this figure will be revised will become clear in the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review expected shortly, which will scrutinise not just the F/A-22 programme but the F-35 and other aircraft programmes as well. In view of the critical budget situation, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has already hinted the direction to follow: “We have to take decisions on what the Services would like to have and what we believe is essential.”

From FLUG REVUE 1/2006

Last updated 9 December 2005

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