Forum: F-22A Raptor

Sorry, but ALEX TREBEK!?!?!?

An incentive flight in a single-seat fighter would be very , especially for people like Mr. Trebek.

CORRECTED: Japan, U.S. eyeing exercise involving F-22A stealth fighters in April

Friday April 6, 5:57 PM

(Kyodo) _ Japan and the United States are close to finalizing plans to conduct the first joint exercise in mid-April involving F-22A stealth fighters temporarily deployed in Okinawa, a senior Defense Ministry official said Friday.

"We are heading in the direction of wrapping up by the end of next week the issue of conducting a joint exercise," Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Toshio Tamogami said at a news conference.

The planned exercise comes on the heels of growing concern among residents living near the U.S. Air Force's Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture about noise and possible accidents involving the F-22s, a squadron of which have been deployed to the base since February.

Assembly members of the town of Kadena, which hosts the base, have unanimously passed a resolution opposing the deployment on the grounds that it poses greater risk to local residents in the form of noise and accidents.

The joint exercise is to be held in airspace around Okinawa, with Japanese Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighters and other aircraft based in the city of Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, expected to participate, according to ministry officials.

Codenamed the Raptor, the state-of-the-art F-22 can evade radar detection and is equipped for ground attack, electronic attack and signals intelligence roles. A senior Defense Ministry official says it can perform as well as "four or five F-15s combined." The aging F-15 is Japan's current mainstay fighter.

By conducting dogfights in the exercise, "We can learn such lessons as how the F-22 might look (on the radar) and how we should cope with it," Tamogami said. "Not only will we size up the level of the F-22's abilities, we can also learn whether our tactics can be used against the F-22."

Twelve F-22 fighters have flown to the Okinawa base from the United States since Feb. 17 in their first deployment at a base outside the United States. The deployment will continue through May, Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said in late February.

By conducting dogfights in the exercise, "We can learn such lessons as how the F-22 might look (on the radar) and how we should cope with it," Tamogami said. "Not only will we size up the level of the F-22's abilities, we can also learn whether our tactics can be used against the F-22."

In reading the quote, you would think that the whole damn objective of the Japanese AF is to specifically go after and see if they can shoot down the F-22 as if it were THE threat.

So if you were training for air to air combat, you wouldn't consider the red force a threat and you wouldn't try to shoot them down?? If you take what people say so literal, you may want to be careful what you read and what you watch on tv...it could get you into trouble.

Excuse me?!?

Rant on:

According to this General Tamogami guy, this is suppose to be a JOINT exercise right? This is suppose to be an exercise evaluating how U.S. and Japanese assets would work together against an aggressor force in a possible realistic scenario or environment, right? Then WTF is he saying in the quote above?

In reading the quote, you would think that the whole damn objective of the Japanese AF is to specifically go after and see if they can shoot down the F-22 as if it were THE threat.

Maybe this is the objective of their aggressor force knowing the Raptor is the biggest enabler, but this coming from their AF's Chief Of Staff is just pathetic.

We're suppose to be allies? Hardly, it sounds like!

I've dealt with the Japanese before and I know they always have to feel they can do everything their admired American and Europeans can do. This is just another example why I don't trust them. They want the F-22. YEAH RIGHT. I sure hope the right people in Washington read Tamogami's quote to further validate the ban of F-22 sales.

Go buy the Eurofighter.

Rant off.

F-22s use refueling 'pit stop'

by Staff Sgt. Kevin Nichols
Detachment 11, Air Force News Agency

4/18/2007 - KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa (AFNEWS) -- Just like in NASCAR, a good pit crew can make or break a team. When tankers aren't in the sky to refuel fighters, pilots take advantage of a pit. "Hot pits" are crucial in wartime as it gets the fighters gassed up quickly while both engines are still running, and back into the fight.

"It's actually pretty dangerous," said Staff Sgt. James Palumbo, a hot pit supervisor. "But we've had special training to do this, and as the supervisor out here my job is to correct or stop any unsafe acts and make sure everyone is doing things right."

In just a few hours, the F-22 Raptor crew turned around eight aircraft, getting each F-22 back to the sky in around 45 minutes.

"A normal turn time on an aircraft is three hours," Sergeant Palumbo said. "But with hot-pitting we can get them going again in about 45 minutes. They basically pull in, get gas, and take off."

"I help put bombs on targets; help take out the bad guys," said Senior Airman Demetrius Johnson, a weapons technician deployed to Kadena with the 27th Fighter Squadron. As a weapons Airman, his additional duties include being on the fueling team helping out with parking the F-22s and doing checklists.

"I think my job has a very important role in the war on terrorism," he said.

While the F-22s continue their deployment on Okinawa, Kadena Airmen take pride in being among the first to work with them.

"The F-22 is an amazing machine," said Senior Airman Corey Bassett, a fuels specialist with the 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Kadena Air Base. "I was very glad they were coming over here and I was able to participate."