The current U.S. fiscal crisis, combined with technical problem related to an onboard oxygen generating system (OBOGS), which grounded the Air Force's cutting edge Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighter for over two months, since May 5, 2011, may foreshadow the aircraft's ultimate demise, according to reports by The Economist, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), DOD Buzz, Flight Global, Defense News, and other news sources published on Thursday, July 14, 2011.
Critics of the F-22, built by Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Company, have called the advanced systems military jet too difficult to fly, and one of the most expensive hangar queens in the U.S. arsenal.
The single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation super maneuverable fighter aircraft which uses stealth technology costs $150 million U.S. Dollars a copy, with 168 planes built as of October 2010, out of 187 aircraft planned, which pegs the project cost at US$65 billion, as shown in the attached slide show and video clip which accompany this report.
The aircraft had been first restricted to flights under 25,000 feet, and then entirely grounded resulting from the crash of an F-22 on November 16, 2010 over Alaska, flown by Captain Jeffrey Haney, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (EDF), in Anchorage, Alaska.
Investigators have not yet positively determined that the accident was the result of hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation. Instead of bulky and payload consuming oxygen tanks, the aircraft uses an onboard oxygen generating system (OBOGS), and other systems which divert, filter, and collect air from the plane's jet engine compressors.
According to a report published by Flight Global on June 16, 2011, it was not the first time this potentially fatal problem surfaced. The Air Force was probing possible breakdowns in the oxygen supply system for the plane after several other pilots reported problems.
In one case, an F-22 scraped tree tops before landing and the pilot could not remember the incident, indicating a possible symptom of hypoxia from a lack of air.
The problem may not be entirely limited to the system which use zeolites to remove nitrogen from compressed air in order to supply oxygen for air crews at high altitudes, as investigators continue their determinations. Zeolites are micro porous, minerals made from aluminum and silicate minerals that are commonly used as commercial adsorbents.
Even helicopter pilots sometimes need additional oxygen, which is supplied by a similar system know as PHODS, Portable Helicopter Oxygen Delivery System, which provides enough oxygen for 2-3 hours of flight operations.
In the current deficit budget crisis, financial analysts may end up with more impact on the outcome of this issue than aerospace engineers, although it would be nearly impossible to nix an aircraft program for a plane that was first introduced on December 15, 2005, after so many of them have already been built. Doing so would be creating a very large white elephant graveyard, and also an uncomfortable embarrassment for politicians.
Even more at risk, as the Economist points out, is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multi function fighters that are currently under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability.
The plane was planned for operational introduction around 2016 to 2018. Each of the 13 test aircraft cost about $150 million, plus an additional $183.5 million for its weapon systems, and an undetermined cost for program development.
Dubbed the last manned fighter, it would be the most expensive military project ever attempted.
Working on a plan to reduce military spending by $400 billion by 2023 designed by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the current head of the Department of Defense (DoD), Leon Panetta, knows a lot about number crunching from his previous experience as the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Some are already predicting that the F-35 will be red-lined in favor of must less costly unmanned drone aircraft, along with the remainder of the yet to be built F-22s.
However, that is not cast in concrete. Lockheed Martin, along with its lobbyists and elected supporters in Congress know that military defense projects have long been regarded as sacred cows, to the detriment of social welfare programs, the development of high speed rail (HSR), and even repairs to such infrastructure as Interstate highways, tunnels, and bridges.
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