First Operational F/A-22 Delivered.

[iludiumq36]

The first operational F/A-22 in Air Force inventory was delivered today to Tyndall AFB, FL. It came in about 16:25, escorted by a 2nd Fighter Squadron F-15.

 

[AxisVDP]

nice!

 

[cougar6903]

Sweet!

 

[ShawnC]

The first operational F/A-22 in Air Force inventory was delivered today to Tyndall AFB, FL. It came in about 16:25, escorted by a 2nd Fighter Squadron F-15.

One wonders why the most lethal fighter aircraft in the world needs an escort?

Cool to hear that the USAF is starting to take them in.

 

[iludiumq36]

The F-15 had a camera guy in the back. I saw the Raptor as it came in. Louder than the F-15 in the air, a lot quieter on the ground. Bigger and sitting lower to the ground. Looks great from the front, but weird from the side.

 

[H82BL8T]

Looks

We should have chosen the F-23.

 

[jaxgus]

30 Billion & 12 Years

What an amazing feat, spend 30 billion and waste 12 years for a day/VFR aircraft. Lockheed has exceeded all expectations. Good thing we can now pay them more to purchase the upgrades to removal the before mentioned limitations.

When was the original IOC date? Oh yea, 1997!!!!!

 

[jaxgus]

Re: Looks

We should have chosen the F-23.

Whole heartedly agree!!!! Much sexier machine and McD would have delivered on time.

 

[ExAF]

Re: Re: Looks

Whole heartedly agree!!!! Much sexier machine and McD would have delivered on time.

McD?...You mean Boeing, don't you?

 

[BonePilot]

Nellis

If you want to see the Raptors, head out to Nellis. I was out there 2 weeks ago, and they had 4 tearing up the pattern ...

 

[KC-10 Driver]

I landed at Tyndall the morning after the F-22 arrived. I had some haz cargo (garden variety munitions) aboard, and the Sky Cops were going crazy with anxiety over my cargo.

Perhaps they thought I was going to try to blow up my airplane and take the F-22 with it!? They posted a 24-hour guard at my aircraft (a lot more attention than a KC-10 usually gets at an Air Force base).

 

[iludiumq36]

The ones at Nellis are for test and evaluation only. The ones to be based at Tyndall could, theoretically, be used in combat. But really they're going to live short, painful lives as pilots tear them up learning to fly them and mechanics tear them apart and put them together learning to fix them.

Some days, Tyndall seems like another planet. Trust me, I work here.

 

[keydet96]

Aero Club

Do you fly with the Aero Club there at Tyndall? I got my private and instrument ratings there. What a great place! Wish every AF base could have a program like that.

 

[iludiumq36]

keydet,

When were you here? Yeah, I'm at the Aero Club.

 

[JimNtexas]

The arrival of thel F/ "A" -22 marks a sad day in the history of the Air Force.

It's the most expensive airplane we have by far, yet performs the least important mission.

It can cruise majestically over the battlefield while SAMs and AAA eat up the attack force and the enemy ignores it. It's pilot is probably struggling with blue screens, but it doesn't matter.

If they slap a bomb on the pylon (earning the "A") then the billions spent on stealth are negated and its now half of an F-15E at 10 times the price.

The F-35 can launch AMRAAMS just as well, and it can also perform useful missions.

It's too late to kill the Raptor, but we ought to limit the buy to 75 or less. We could put one 12 PAA operational squadron each in Europe, Japan, and CONUS. That'd leave enough for a school house, weapons school, testing, and most importantly, airshows.

The money saved could go for F-35s and UAVs.

 

[Dick]

"The money saved could go for F-35s and UAVs."

Or purchase more Strike Eagles and upgrade some avionics.

 

[Nalo Boy]

When is Tyndall gonna be all f22's. Are they doing all the eagle guys at Klamath now?

 

[keydet96]

KPAM Aero club

Hey Iludium,
I was there from the summer of '99 to the summer of '01. I was an air battle manager there before I got a guard UPT slot.

Keydet96

 

[chawbein]

The arrival of thel F/ "A" -22 marks a sad day in the history of the Air Force.

It's the most expensive airplane we have by far, yet performs the least important mission.

It can cruise majestically over the battlefield while SAMs and AAA eat up the attack force and the enemy ignores it. It's pilot is probably struggling with blue screens, but it doesn't matter.

If they slap a bomb on the pylon (earning the "A") then the billions spent on stealth are negated and its now half of an F-15E at 10 times the price.

The F-35 can launch AMRAAMS just as well, and it can also perform useful missions.

It's too late to kill the Raptor, but we ought to limit the buy to 75 or less. We could put one 12 PAA operational squadron each in Europe, Japan, and CONUS. That'd leave enough for a school house, weapons school, testing, and most importantly, airshows.

The money saved could go for F-35s and UAVs.

That seems short sighted. We will not always be in skirmishes with dirt poor countries with no air force. You have to be prepared to fight the big fight, or else you could end up in the big fight. Look beyond the horizon. Do you think that the ChiComs are not going to have expansionist plans in the future? The communists or a really bad dictator could take over in Russia. Without a premier air-dominance fighter in the inventory, it would take years just to build enough to fight a sizeable force.

 

[iludiumq36]

It'll be a while before the 15's leave Tyndall. They're only getting one 22 a month and only one squadron's worth to begin with.