The "Phoenix" at the Pentagon: the Air Force officially asks to turn the F-22 in a sixth-generation fighter
http://www.difesaonline.it/mondo-militare/la-fenice-del-pentagono-lair-force-chiede-ufficialmente-di-trasformare-lf-22-un
(Franco Iacch)
09/03/16
The Pentagon could remedy the biggest mistake in its history, the closure of F-22 line, updating the Raptor to the sixth generation. There is already talk of an unofficial program called "Phoenix".
The basic problem stems from a miscalculation in the aftermath of the Cold War, when the Department of Defense was convinced that with the fall of the Soviet Union, there would be no future air threat. An assessment that was all wrong, considering today's Chinese and Russian investments in the next generation fighters.
We were optimistic - says the Air Force report presented yesterday to the Armed Services Committee of the Senate - perhaps too, but we were convinced that a reasonable number of years, no country had been able to develop next-generation platforms. Unfortunately, Russians and Chinese have done in half the time than we assumed.
"The S-400 anti-aircraft system is an advanced threat for our hunting, we should continue to spend money to improve the ability of F-22 and F-15 while maintaining the technological gap with other nations, we must work quickly since to hunt for sixth generation ".
The "Raptor" question is thus established. Having suspended the F-22 production to just 187 units - said the Air Force Secretary Deborah James last January 24 - was one of the stupidest decisions on military procurement in recent decades now it does not deny it any more .
"The original plan was to produce a lot 'of F-22. Unfortunately, a series of unfortunate circumstances and budget overruns have anticipated the conclusion of the program. We just pulled the plug and shut the production line. Now we focus everything on the F-35, although it will never do what can do the Raptor ".
James has also confirmed that the entire production line has not been cannibalized, but kept in storage as well as all projects. But in recent weeks, the Next Generation Air Dominance program was strongly matched precisely to the Raptor that "could rise from the ashes like a sixth-generation platform."
It 's always the Air Force proposed the "Phoenix" program for the Next Generation Air Dominance. "We need a fighter from 2030, and we may not have the time to develop from scratch a new platform. That's why we could resurrect from the ashes the F-22 project and turn it into a sixth-generation platform. The Air Force can not afford the twenty-year development of a new platform, which is why proposes the evolution of existing technology ".
The only fighter from the planet's air supremacy, the F-22 Raptor, was built in only 186 copies, but only 123 are converted to the fighting. The rest of the fighters are classified as inventory machines, intended for testing or out of service. The main problem is that the Air Force, considering the current threats and the contexts where the presence of a fifth-generation platform is necessary, would need 382 Raptor. The question is purely numerical: the first fighter in the world that has been coined the term "air supremacy", can not be everywhere.
The United States has six operational squadrons of F-22, but these are undersized compared to other combat units. Squadron American Standard is based on 24 aircraft (F-16 or F15) or PAA Primary Aircraft Authorized and two in inventory O BAI Backup Aircraft Inventory. The five squadrons Raptor fighters online 21 plus two planes in BAI. The only Raptor squadron of the National Guard, based at Hickam in Hawaii, is made up of eighteen F-22 and two in inventory. The Air Force Weapons School at Nellis, only has thirteen Raptor for certification.
The Phoenix program could resurrect the new Raptor.
---
MAYBE THE ITEM 4 - THE FAT DUCK THAT FLYS
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=41978
---
IZAKOVIC
