Sky Talk

F-22 demonstration video

The Air Forces F-22 Raptor made its first international air show appearance in Farnborough on Monday. Check out video here of its 12 minute flight that had folks buzzing.

Also, you may want to check out the presentation on same page about Pratt & Whitney's new fuel efficient, geared turbofan engine for commercial jetliners.  Bombardier has launched a new line of 110/130 passenger aircraft that will use this engine and, the company claims, achieve about 15 percent better fuel consumption with much lower noise and and polluting emissions.

--Bob Cox

Aviation writers preview Farnborough

Or better known as my very first podcast. Yours truly participated in a round-table discussion with three other journalists of what to expect at the Farnborough Air Show. Take a listen, critiques welcome.

Fellow podcasters were Steve Trimble, writer at blogger for Flight, Colin Clark, reporter and blogger for Military.com and DoDBuzz.com, with Christian Lowe of Military.com and DefenseTech.com moderating.

-- Bob Cox

Report: Gates blocked F-22 deployment to Iraq

Defense Tech reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates blocked an Air Force plan last December to deploy Lockheed Martin-built F-22 Raptors to Iraq, citing concern that deploying the stealthy aircraft might send a signal that the U.S. was threatening Iran.

The blog post, citing unnamed sources, reports opposition to the plan "came from Ryan Henry, principal deputy to the undersecretary of Defense for policy, who worried that Iran would interpret the deployment of the country’s most capable fighter as a regional escalation at a time when rumors were sweeping the region that the US was planning strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities."

-- Bob Cox

Gates to Air Force: Get in the fight

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, tired of the complaining by Air Force leaders over not enough F-22s, lack of funds, old planes etc, gave a speech Monday that could be read as chastising the blue suiters top brass.

To make sure the message got heard Gates invoked the legacy and words of the late, ostracized Col. John Boyd, who fought the Air Force to develop the F-16 fighter for which Fort Worth is eternally grateful!

Mark Thompson, former Pulitzer prize winning Star-Telegram scribe now with Time, reports that Gates "fired a volley at his own Air Force for doing too little' in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Gates' comments ricocheted at supersonic speed around the Pentagon and across broader defense networks, as officers — and contractors — tried to parse their implications. His bottom line: The Air Force ought to be less concerned with buying more $350 million F-22 fighters for use in future wars that may never happen, and do more to deliver what is needed to fight the wars currently underway "while their outcome may still be in doubt."

To the horror of some in the Air Force, Gates cited the late John Boyd, who attained the rank of Air Force colonel, as an example young officers should emulate. Gates called him "a brilliant, eccentric and stubborn character" who had to bulldoze his way through the Air Force hierarchy to launch the F-16 fighter, now regarded as perhaps the best value in the skies. Gates lionized Boyd for telling colleagues they could think in traditional Air Force ways that "will get you promoted and get good assignments," or do the right thing "and do something for your country, and for your Air Force, and for yourself." The Defense Secretary added that "an unconventional era of warfare requires unconventional thinkers."

Go here to see the full text of Gates remarks.

- Bob Cox

Keeping F-22 stealthy is hard to do

The high cost of buying military aircraft often gathers a lot of political and media attention, but the hard work and high cost to keep planes flying and operating properly is usually overlooked.

Now, as Bill Sweetman writes at Aviation Week's Ares blog, the GAO has some disquieting observations about the Air Force's F-22 Raptor. The F-22, it seems, needs almost constant TLC to maintain its alleged cloak of invisibility to radar.

Basically, the F-22 is taking between two and three times as much maintenance as it should, despite $132 million in upgrades. The recent incident in which an F-22 ingested a piece of radar absorbent material is an example of a problem that should be on the way to being solved, but the trend to date is not encouraging.

It was supposed to be better, much easier to maintain the F-117 and the B-2. And of course the F-35 is supposed to be even better. Time will tell.

- Bob Cox

Buy America: Apparently the Russians do

Another gem from Bill Sweetman at Aviation Week's Ares blog. An interesting post on the latest in Russian air-to-air-missile technology and what it might mean in combat. Seems the Russians know where to go to buy their high tech gear.

Russian missile technology is advancing rapidly, and recent radar seekers from the Agat design bureau use western commercial signal processing chips like the Texas Instruments TMS320.

Wonder if you can get those chips from Radio Shack or off EBay.
- Bob Cox

Lockheed chief calls for more talks on F-22

Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Robert Stevens today called for discussions with Congress and the Defense Department to determine whether more F-22 jets are needed beyond the 183 now on order, Bloomberg News reports.

The question of whether the U.S. should buy more F-22 jets or close the line when current production is completed in 2011 “will be examined” and a decision will probably be made this year, Stevens told a Citigroup-sponsored conference in New York.

-- Scott Nishimura

Gates slaps down Air Force

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, apparently tired of the Air Force's very open campaign to buy hundreds more F-22 fighters despite Pentagon policies, has reminded the service's top brass that civilians dictate military policy in the U.S. and not vice versa.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Gates on Thursday "privately rebuked a four-star general" for comments suggesting the Air Force would find some way to buy another 200 F-22s regardless of the Defense Department's budget and planning guidelines.

The Air Force's campaign on behalf of the F-22 took on the appearance of open rebellion on Wednesday when Gen. Bruce Carlson told a defense publication the service would find ways to finance the purchase of the F-22s, which cost roughly $175 million each.

Carlson's remarks came one day after Deputy Secretary Gordon England told the Senate Budget Committee that DoD policy would be to buy F-35 joint strike fighters, rather than the F-22 to replace aging F-15s if that became necessary.

The Times story, attributed to Air Force officials says:

One senior Defense official called the remarks by ... Carlson, who heads the Air Force command responsible for testing and developing weapons, “borderline insubordination,” because they contradicted a decision by the president.

Stay tuned.

-- Bob

England: Replace F-15s with F-35s, not F-22s

Gordon England says if the Air Force needs to replace aging F-15s it should buy more F-35 joint strike fighters, not more F-22s.

England made his comments Tuesday while testifying before the Senate Budget Committee. "I do not believe F-22s will be replacements for the F-15," England said. "So I would expect instead we would try to accelerate the Joint Strike Fighter, which is more of the class of the F-15. So the Air Force would move into the Joint Strike Fighter and not the much more expensive F-22 airplane."

Of course the Air Force, which is all but at war with England over its desire to buy 200 more F-22s, has a different idea, as Aviation Week reports.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Bruce Carlson, chief of Air Force Materiel Command, told a group of reporters Wednesday that the Air Force will figure out a way to buy 380 F-22s, despite the fact that the Pentagon - through the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) - has capped the number of Raptors to be procured at 183.

Talk about your dogfights!

--Bob Cox

Air Force "unfunded" wish list tops $19 billion

The Air Force's share of the proposed 2009 defense budget is a mere $144 billion, but the service has sent Congress a wish list of "unfunded priorities" it can't -- or doesn't want to live without. The wish list asks for another $19 billion.

The list includes $1.1 billion for F-22s -- four planes in 2009 and money to begin work on 24 more planes to be funded in 2010. The Air Force also wants funds for another 15 C-17 transports.

-- Bob