The F-22 “Raptor” has its first combat mission completed – 17 years after the first flight, after cost explosions and technical glitches. But the U.S. Air Force needs them more than ever.

You should be the newest, most modern and most powerful combat what is currently on the road in the sky. No aircraft was the F-22 “Raptor” grown in air combat, enemy radar, the machine is almost invisible. So the U.S. military praises of its new fighter jet. What is less aggressively marketed: The F-22 is a product of the Cold War, which was technically obsolete long before it has now completed its first combat mission in Syria.

“During which was F-22 produced, they flew with computers that were so outdated that they would have been found in any children’s game console in the living room,” said U.S. Gen. Michael Hostage, chief of Air Combat Command, in February an interview with the “Air Force Times”. Nevertheless, he considers the F-22 is essential – partly because of the shortcomings of the second new American stealth fighter jets, the F-35th
The F-35 will be the future backbone of the U.S. Air Force, more than 2400 copies will procure Washington. The costs have doubled from the originally planned 780 billion to an incredible $ 1.5 trillion. Nevertheless, the F-35 is unlikely, as once promised to keep enemy aircraft at bay and at the same time be able to combat ground targets well.

In particular, the capabilities of the F-35 in air combat experts have repeatedly expressed grave doubts. Hostage seems to share these concerns, which are always denied by the Americans, “The F-35 was not built as an air superiority platform,” said the air force general – and calls, so every one of the “pathetic few” F-22 technically as high as possible to prepare. “If I do not think the F-22 fleet up and running,” said the officer, “the F-35 fleet will be frankly irrelevant.”

F-22 “Raptor”:Child of the Cold War

The F-22 is again in vogue – since China’s rapid military rise and since the latest aggression of Russia against Ukraine. The “Raptor” had been like a dinosaur from the Cold War. The plans for the fighter jet formed at the beginning of the eighties in response to Soviet aircraft like the MiG-29 and Su-27th They were the former American fighter aircraft at least equal – so it needed something new in order to guarantee in case of war, the air of superiority. 1991, the Air Force decided to procure equal to 750 F-22 copies.

But nothing came of it. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States Air Force suddenly had no serious opponents more; China’s rise was still in the distant future. In the nineties air battles with high-tech fighter aircraft were just hard to imagine. For attacks on ground targets, the F-22, however, is suitable only limited: Because they have to transport bombs and missiles in internal bays, so as not to lose their stealth properties, it can take less than a ton of ammunition for ground targets. The result: the U.S. government reduced the number of machines to be procured several times until 2006 or 183 were left.

F-22 “Raptor”:Stunning cost increases

Another reason for the reluctance were the massive cost increases. In March 2012, the U.S. General Accounting Office GAO has estimated the total price for one F-22 to a hefty $ 412 million – almost three times more than originally planned. The project also took an unusually long time. From the first flight of the F-22 in September 1997 to its official launch, it took more than eight years – twice as long as in the previous models, F-15, F-16 and F / A-18th

To secure the favor of as many delegates in Congress, more than 1,000 companies were involved in 46 states in the production of the F-22. This has the process clearly drawn according to experts in the length. In addition, the F-22 suffered massive technical problems.

In February 2010, for example, had the complete “Raptor” fleet remain on the ground, because the lever for the ejection seats rust had set. Beginning of 2007, six F-22, the International Date Line at 180 longitude crosses from Hawaii – and crazy promptly played various systems, including communication and navigation. Just because they could follow a tanker, the raptors were ever returned to Hawaii. “F-22 Squadron shot down by Dateline”, then mocked the branch website “Defence Industry Daily”.

F-22 “Raptor”:Pilot complained of “‘Raptor’ Cough”

The youngest and biggest problem was the “‘Raptor’-cough”: F-22 pilots complained of massive physical impairments that had obviously to do with the oxygen supply. The problem was so serious that the entire F-22 fleet in 2011 had four months remain on the ground. Only in April 2013, all restrictions were lifted. For months, the Air Force and “Raptor” manufacturers Lockheed Martin had puzzled over the cause of the problem. In April this year it was announced that the F-22 will receive an additional oxygen system that automatically supplies the pilot in an emergency. Installation in all machines should be completed by mid-2015.

It is far from the only technical improvement, the needs of the supposedly modern high-tech fighter jet. It was only in February 2013, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract for up to $ 6.9 billion to beef up the F-22 fleet. However, the “Raptor” could still take a long time until they come up to the capabilities of today’s fighter jets. So the Air Force hopes that the F-22 in 2017 is capable of firing modern air-to-air missile of the type AIM-9X. Fighter jets such as the F-15, F-16 or the F / A-18 may have been for about ten years.