The Self-Locking F-22 ... Lockheed's Flying Dud

[TomInTib]

Last week, Lockheed Martin announced that its profits were up a hefty 60 percent in the first quarter. The company earned $591 million in profit on revenues of $9.2 billion. Now, if the company could just figure out how to put a door handle on its new $361 million F-22 fighter, its prospects would really soar.

On April 10, at Langley Air Force Base, an F-22 pilot, Capt. Brad Spears, was locked inside the cockpit of his aircraft for five hours. No one in the U.S. Air Force or from Lockheed Martin could figure out how to open the aircraft's canopy. At about 1:15 pm, chainsaw-wielding firefighters from the 1st Fighter Wing finally extracted Spears after they cut through the F-22's three-quarter inch-thick polycarbonate canopy.

Total damage to the airplane, according to sources inside the Pentagon: $1.28 million. Not only did the firefighters ruin the canopy, which cost $286,000, they also scuffed the coating on the airplane's skin which will cost about $1 million to replace.



The Pentagon currently plans to buy 181 copies of the F-22 from Lockheed Martin, the world's biggest weapons vendor. The total price tag: $65.4 billion.

more:

http://www.counterpunch.com/bryce05032006.html

[Book Lover]

1. Every red cent comes from our pockets

Every goddamn penny Lockheed gets paid comes from an account that is filled with our tax dollars. And in a few short years, their machines will be gathering dust on some airfield filled with other mothballed aircraft. Later on, those machines will be pushed aside to make room for the ones they haven't even built yet.... I have no problem with building weapons to be used against an enemy. I object to the military-industrial complex, to my last breath.

[napi21]

3. I'm not as concerned about the $$ as I am about the locking system failure

Do you realize if this situation were to duplicate on a mission, and the plane was attacked, APPARENTLY the eject system wouldn't work! If the plane went down, the pilot couldn't escape the wreckage!

Is somebody from the S USAF investigating WHY this happened?????????

[niallmac]

2. 65 billion.

For what? Why? To combat who's air force? How do these translate into our real world of terrorism and nebulous enemies?
What a blatant robbery of the public treasury by the military industrial complex.

[DemoTex]

4. OMF God! The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre Redux.

Did test-pilot forget his key? Just kidding. But to sit in a sun-baked cockpit for 5 hours? In-fucking-sane!
You know that little loopy thing above the fighter pilots seat? I think I would have pulled that (hell, it's zero-zero) after an hour and a half! Know what I mean?

[TomInTib]

6. I guess Lockheed doesn't offer that option on the F22

What do you expect for a paltry $36,000,000 a copy?

[DemoTex]

8. Ride it down to the smoking hole!

I always hated that philosophy. Know what I mean?

[TomInTib]

11. With us, it was Smoke On the Water (way before Deep Purple)

I know what you mean, DemoTex.

[Karmakaze]

17. Thast 360,000,000 per copy...

But I assume your figure was a typo. 360 MILLION, and if the computer goes down, you cant open the canopy.

Ok so what happens if an F-22 crash lands, knocking out the computers? How do they open the canopy then? I mean seriously a system that has no manual external canopy opener? What if everything is fine but the pilot is unconcious?

This is just nuts.

[lonestarnot]

5. eject eject eject bbbbbbbbbbzzz splash!

[ReverendDeuce]

7. Flying dud? WTF?

Honestly, there's a time and place for calling something a dud. The F-22 is hardly a dud! It is an exceptionally capable air-superiority aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22

Just because we're anti-war doesn't mean we can call every technological defensive military advance a dud. Damn people, get a grip!

[TomInTib]

9. 2 million lines of code, Lockheed-supplied, will sink this boat.

There is no CtrlAltDelete at that speed.

And I do not think the F-22 is a "defensive" weapon.

[ReverendDeuce]

15. Microsoft jab is on the money...

But defensive/offensive, it doesn't matter? These aircraft are dual-role. And they don't run WinCE, trust me. There's no Internet Explorer on the HUD.

How do you draw the line between an offensive and defensive weapon?

Personally, I think the F-22 is a...

[Karmakaze]

16. Yeah, its fool proof! No wait...

unkless you want to open the canopy that is, then you need 5 hours cutting equipment and firefighters. And it will only cost a couple million.

But otherwise fool proof!

[FogerRox]

13. Yeah sure--- the F-22 gets screen lock too like in MS Windows lock

[El Supremo]

10. You can't have the same plane for the Air Force, Navy and Marines.

Never has worked before and never will. And with that much computer crap, you should have a computer fly it.

[FogerRox]

14. Exactly their is a reason the A-6 is very different from the F-16.

[soothsayer]

12. Why do we have to pay for the repairs? No warranty on these?

[baldguy]

18. $1 million to fix the scuffed paint?

And these things are supposed to go into combat?

[TomInTib]

19. Earl Schieb would do it for $129... n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Specialized Radar Absorbing paint

very classified... but if you follow Janes, you'd know this

:-)

Profesional Hazard, I have to follow Janes.