USAF debates major upgrade for F-22 Raptors
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From Stephen Trimble at Flight Global
We won't know for sure till 2012 budget in 6 months.
The US Air Force has confirmed to Flight International that a decision is pending on whether to launch a major upgrade for 63 of its Lockheed Martin F-22s.
Although the decision will be made internally within a few months, the service will wait to publicise the outcome until the Obama administration releases its fiscal year 2012 budget request next February.
Under review is a proposal to upgrade nearly half of the USAF's fleet of 186 operational F-22s with a suite of advanced new weapons that have entered service during the last few years, plus advanced communications equipment that is still in development.
The proposal comes after the Department of Defense decided to terminate F-22 production in early 2012. As part of that decision, it accepted a USAF proposal to spend $1.3 billion on a "common configuration programme", which is consolidating six different versions of the F-22 into three basic types.
© Billypix
For the training and test fleet, the USAF is upgrading 37 Block 10 F-22s, which include two types of production-representative test vehicles, to the Block 20 standard. This includes a new central integrated processor, eliminating an older software configuration that proved unreliable in operational tests nearly a decade ago.
Under the common configuration plan, the combat-coded F-22 fleet is separated into groups of 63 Block 30 and 87 Block 35 aircraft.
The Block 30s are being upgraded with Increment 3.1 capabilities, which include air-to-ground and electronic attack modes for the Northrop Grumman APG-77 radar.
Meanwhile, the Block 35s will also be modernised with the USAF's most advanced air-to-air weapons - the Raytheon AIM-120D AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder. The package, named Increment 3.2, also adds an automatic ground collision avoidance system and the multifunction advanced datalink. The latter will allow the F-22 to transmit data to other stealth aircraft.
USAF officials are now debating whether to upgrade the 63 Block 30 aircraft to the Block 35 standard. If the proposal is accepted, the USAF would operate a fleet of 150 F-22s with identical capabilities.
But the Raptor fleet would still lack a number of features common to most modern fighters, including an infrared search and track sensor for passive targeting and a helmet-mounted cueing system to shoot at targets beyond the field of view of the fighter's air-to-air missiles.
It is possible, however, that the USAF will add new capabilities to the F-22 beyond the Increment 3.2 upgrades. One example is a distributed aperture system now installed on the Lockheed Martin F-35, which provides 360° optical coverage around the aircraft.
According to Jim Pitts, president of Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, the USAF is likely to be interested in adopting the system on other aircraft as pilots become familiar with its capabilities.
We won't know for sure till 2012 budget in 6 months.
This is fantastic news. Lets hope the funding is there. If they retain the current 18 + 2 squadron structure that'd translate to 140 front line jets and 10 jets assigned to system development and OT. Maybe we'll get real lucky and this upgrade program will provide a pathway for upgrading all the jets to a common Blk 35(+) standard.
Whats interesting is the mention of adapting a DAS capability to the airframe. This is the first time I've seen something about this other than the LM MLD sell sheet. Hopefully JROC will also consider a true IRST, cheek arrays and perhaps even upgraded motors as attractive upgrades in the future.
Whats interesting is the mention of adapting a DAS capability to the airframe. This is the first time I've seen something about this other than the LM MLD sell sheet. Hopefully JROC will also consider a true IRST, cheek arrays and perhaps even upgraded motors as attractive upgrades in the future.
When it comes to fighting Raptors, "We die wholesale..."
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OL, here's a good article on the details of GCAS:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... 0Potential
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... 0Potential
"A visitor from Mars could easily pick out the civilized nations. They have the best implements of war."
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Good article.
Good system, although civil T2CAS & TAWS/EGPWS systems both went through a number of iterations to get the bugs out after they were fielded. Resolution on the terrain databases was a key issue.
Purpose is to salvage high dollar equipment, selling point is saving lives.
Apart from preserving airframes, the system does nothing to enhance combat capability. Callous again, but very few pilots ever end up needing a system like this.
There's the variable to deal with.
OL
Good system, although civil T2CAS & TAWS/EGPWS systems both went through a number of iterations to get the bugs out after they were fielded. Resolution on the terrain databases was a key issue.
Purpose is to salvage high dollar equipment, selling point is saving lives.
Apart from preserving airframes, the system does nothing to enhance combat capability. Callous again, but very few pilots ever end up needing a system like this.
There's the variable to deal with.
OL
Last edited by outlaw162 on 05 Aug 2010, 22:48, edited 1 time in total.
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What they want actually makes sense to me. With the reduction to 183, they need to make all the F-22s the best possible. Also, economies of scale kick in for future upgrades beyond Incr 3.2 if they add the 63 Blk30 F-22s to the 87 Blk35 ones.
Personally I would like them to upgrade the MLD, get cheek arrays, and get the AIRST.
Personally I would like them to upgrade the MLD, get cheek arrays, and get the AIRST.
"The early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese."
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outlaw162 wrote: Apart from preserving airframes, the system does nothing to enhance combat capability. Callous again, but very few pilots ever end up needing a system like this.
Kind of like... ejection seats?
"A visitor from Mars could easily pick out the civilized nations. They have the best implements of war."
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Very true. I've used one of those, and in civil aviation it was very uncomfortable flying the heavies not having one.
Correct me if I'm wrong though, from 60,000 feet, descending at 10,000 feet per minute, you have 6 minutes to figure things out.
OL
(The ejection seat actually has just the opposite effect from preserving the airframe.)
Correct me if I'm wrong though, from 60,000 feet, descending at 10,000 feet per minute, you have 6 minutes to figure things out.
OL
(The ejection seat actually has just the opposite effect from preserving the airframe.)
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outlaw162 wrote:Very true. I've used one of those, and in civil aviation it was very uncomfortable flying the heavies not having one.
Correct me if I'm wrong though, from 60,000 feet, descending at 10,000 feet per minute, you have 6 minutes to figure things out.
OL
(The ejection seat actually has just the opposite effect from preserving the airframe.)
Actually, there was this one F-106... but it's the exception that proves the rule.
"A visitor from Mars could easily pick out the civilized nations. They have the best implements of war."
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USAF officials are now debating whether to upgrade the 63 Block 30 aircraft to the Block 35 standard. If the proposal is accepted, the USAF would operate a fleet of 150 F-22s with identical capabilities.
It should not be debated now, this decision should have been made earlier .
Good news for F-22 as I belive using F-22s in three variants isn't good for logistics and maitainance.
Regards
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outlaw162 wrote:Good article.
Good system, although civil T2CAS & TAWS/EGPWS systems both went through a number of iterations to get the bugs out after they were fielded. Resolution on the terrain databases was a key issue.
Purpose is to salvage high dollar equipment, selling point is saving lives.
Apart from preserving airframes, the system does nothing to enhance combat capability. Callous again, but very few pilots ever end up needing a system like this.
There's the variable to deal with.
OL
If you're a pilot in combat, that happens to be pulling a lot of Gs, and black out, do you not see some utility in this feature. It gives the pilot more confidence to fly aggressively, if the situation requires.
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