Tripp
You think you hate it now...
The following appeared in the Atlanta newspaper...any thoughts? [Personally, I say build the blasted thing, but that's because it's built about 10 miles from my house, alongside the C-130 Hercules--nothing like hometown pride....]
quote:
Test pilot questions value of F-22 in future wars
By Julia Malone
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Washington -- A veteran Air Force test pilot and senior military aircraft designer Thursday criticized the Air Force's "dream" F-22 fighter Thursday as an "obscene" expense that will deliver few of its high-performance promises.
In the latest skirmish over the new generation of fighters, retired Air Force Col. Everest E. Riccioni said that the F-22 "is really not a very spectacular increase in capability" over the F-15 now in use. He said the new plane will be too big to evade detection and that it will be "totally irrelevant" to future wars.
Riccioni said the F-22 program would actually weaken U.S. air power because the high cost for each new plane, now estimated at $178 million, will mean that as few as 100 new planes will be purchased as current fighters are retired.
The U.S. Air Force "has always had and has always depended upon superior numbers to win," the former fighter pilot said as part of what he called a "fact versus fiction" analysis of the F-22 program.
"Numbers guarantee victory. Numbers develop intensity and allow multiple attacks," he said.
Riccioni, who helped foster the Air Force's lightweight F-16s, launched his criticism at a briefing sponsored by the Project on Government Oversight, a private watchdog group on federal spending and corporate fraud.
Lockheed Martin, the lead contractor for the F-22, rejected the critique, although company spokesman Sam Grizzle acknowledged that Riccioni is a "well-known concept developer for aviation programs."
"By all government accounts, the F-22's test performance thus far has been outstanding, meeting every design criteria with favorable margin," Grizzle said from Marietta, Ga., where the planes would be assembled.
"Our team is confident the F-22 represents a huge increase in capability over the F-15, and that the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center will validate the F-22's performance during initial operational effectiveness testing," he said.
The testing is scheduled to begin in August 2002, after production has already begun on the plane. That timing is among the concerns Riccioni raised.
Among his complaints about the aircraft, all of which he said were based on publicly available data:
-It's much bigger than other fighters, so that it could be easily seen unless flown at night.
"The plane is stealthy against air radar," but the data offer no information on whether it can be spotted by radar systems on the ground.
-Infrared sensors would detect its heat, and its shock waves could be picked up by sound monitors.
-Its publicly advertised thrust power is roughly the same as F-15s. "It will look very impressive," Riccioni said, but he predicted that the F-22 would maneuver much as the existing fighters do.
-Despite promises that the new plane could cruise efficiently at supersonic speeds for hundreds of miles, he said its large wings, needed for maneuverability, make it difficult to fly efficiently above the speed of sound. He said the range for such supersonic flights would be about 50 miles.
-Testing for the plane has been sharply reduced.
And in a critique made by other foes of the new aircraft, the retired pilot argued that it would be "irrelevant" now that there is no Soviet air force or any other serious competitor to counter. The F-22 would be of no use in 21st century conflicts against guerrilla forces, terrorists and drug lords, he said.
Although the F-22 has suffered setbacks on Capitol Hill, the plane has won backing from President Clinton this year in a budget that includes funding to buy the first 10 planes next year and 16 in 2002. The plan was backed in the fiscal 2001 defense spending bill approved by the House on Wednesday.
Edited by - Tripp on 14 June 2000
quote:
Test pilot questions value of F-22 in future wars
By Julia Malone
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Washington -- A veteran Air Force test pilot and senior military aircraft designer Thursday criticized the Air Force's "dream" F-22 fighter Thursday as an "obscene" expense that will deliver few of its high-performance promises.
In the latest skirmish over the new generation of fighters, retired Air Force Col. Everest E. Riccioni said that the F-22 "is really not a very spectacular increase in capability" over the F-15 now in use. He said the new plane will be too big to evade detection and that it will be "totally irrelevant" to future wars.
Riccioni said the F-22 program would actually weaken U.S. air power because the high cost for each new plane, now estimated at $178 million, will mean that as few as 100 new planes will be purchased as current fighters are retired.
The U.S. Air Force "has always had and has always depended upon superior numbers to win," the former fighter pilot said as part of what he called a "fact versus fiction" analysis of the F-22 program.
"Numbers guarantee victory. Numbers develop intensity and allow multiple attacks," he said.
Riccioni, who helped foster the Air Force's lightweight F-16s, launched his criticism at a briefing sponsored by the Project on Government Oversight, a private watchdog group on federal spending and corporate fraud.
Lockheed Martin, the lead contractor for the F-22, rejected the critique, although company spokesman Sam Grizzle acknowledged that Riccioni is a "well-known concept developer for aviation programs."
"By all government accounts, the F-22's test performance thus far has been outstanding, meeting every design criteria with favorable margin," Grizzle said from Marietta, Ga., where the planes would be assembled.
"Our team is confident the F-22 represents a huge increase in capability over the F-15, and that the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center will validate the F-22's performance during initial operational effectiveness testing," he said.
The testing is scheduled to begin in August 2002, after production has already begun on the plane. That timing is among the concerns Riccioni raised.
Among his complaints about the aircraft, all of which he said were based on publicly available data:
-It's much bigger than other fighters, so that it could be easily seen unless flown at night.
"The plane is stealthy against air radar," but the data offer no information on whether it can be spotted by radar systems on the ground.
-Infrared sensors would detect its heat, and its shock waves could be picked up by sound monitors.
-Its publicly advertised thrust power is roughly the same as F-15s. "It will look very impressive," Riccioni said, but he predicted that the F-22 would maneuver much as the existing fighters do.
-Despite promises that the new plane could cruise efficiently at supersonic speeds for hundreds of miles, he said its large wings, needed for maneuverability, make it difficult to fly efficiently above the speed of sound. He said the range for such supersonic flights would be about 50 miles.
-Testing for the plane has been sharply reduced.
And in a critique made by other foes of the new aircraft, the retired pilot argued that it would be "irrelevant" now that there is no Soviet air force or any other serious competitor to counter. The F-22 would be of no use in 21st century conflicts against guerrilla forces, terrorists and drug lords, he said.
Although the F-22 has suffered setbacks on Capitol Hill, the plane has won backing from President Clinton this year in a budget that includes funding to buy the first 10 planes next year and 16 in 2002. The plan was backed in the fiscal 2001 defense spending bill approved by the House on Wednesday.
Edited by - Tripp on 14 June 2000
