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Mar 28, 09:02 PM
The Air Force plans to retire nearly three dozen of Tyndall Air Force Base’s F-22 fighter jets in fiscal 2023, ending tentative plans to move them to Virginia that have been on hold for more than three years.
The Raptors have been flying out of nearby Eglin AFB in Florida since a hurricane destroyed Tyndall in October 2018.
Officials want to divest 33 of the service’s oldest F-22s
and use that money to instead research cutting-edge combat jet designs under the “Next-Generation Air Dominance” program.
If Congress approves the idea,
it would send all but three Block 20 Raptors to the “boneyard” at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona,
and shrink the overall fleet from 186 to 153 fighters.
t’s too expensive to upgrade the stealth jets from their usual status as training planes so they can hold up in combat,
said Maj. Gen. James Peccia, the Air Force’s deputy assistant budget secretary.
That investment would cost $1.8 billion over eight years,
which the Air Force believes is money better spent on upgrading newer F-22s
with more advanced sensors and improving the F-35A Lightning II.
“We will take operational jets and use them for training, but yet we can also take them and use them in the fight,”
Peccia told reporters March 25.
“It’s really using every dollar as smart as we can in our fighter portfolio when we’re trying to modernize that portfolio.”
The Air Force’s remaining F-22s would be redistributed across the Raptor squadrons,
which include units at
Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia;
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; and
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and
Eglin.
Each base would operate fewer jets than before, Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he doesn’t expect further F-22 retirements in the short-term,
adding that the jet remains the service’s premier air-to-air combat platform.
Air Force Times reported last June that the service was considering retiring the 325th Fighter Wing’s planes
as part of phasing out the F-22,
which it doesn’t envision as part of its future inventory after more than 20 years.
The yearslong limbo has stressed airmen personally and professionally, complicated their housing and financial situations, and potentially contributed to a string of jet mishaps at the 325th.
“Analysis of the data identified that nose landing gear rigging can change over time, and as a result, technical data was updated to clarify rigging procedures following maintenance actions,” she said.
Overall, the Raptor fleet suffered 26 Class A and 36 Class B accidents between fiscal 2011 and 2021, according to the Air Force Safety Center. That equals about eight Class A and 11 Class B mishaps for every 100,000 flying hours.
Class A mishaps cost at least $2 million, involve a destroyed aircraft or cause death or permanent and total disability.
Class B mishaps are those that cost between $500,000 and $2 million,
lead to a permanent, partial disability,
or cause inpatient hospitalization of at least three people.
One noncommissioned officer who works in F-22 maintenance said last summer
that crews sometimes felt they could defer some upkeep
until their short-term posting at Eglin was done.
“This step here or a step there might be overlooked,
because we’re only going to be here for so long. …
It would be put off,” the NCO said. “Now, it’s all starting to catch up.”
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