By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Amy L. Robinson
Air Combat Command
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. – The commander of the Air Force’s Air Combat
Command met with reporters this week to discuss the national security
imperative for the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, the status of efforts to identify a
root cause for unexplained physiological incidents with the aircraft, and risk
mitigation efforts since the Raptor’s return to flying operations in September
2011.
Confirming recent media reports of the
F-22 deploying to Southwest Asia, Air Force Gen. Mike Hostage emphasized the
Raptor’s ability to support combatant commander requirements around the world.
“I won’t comment where it’s deployed to
or where it deployed from, but yes, the F-22 is on an operational deployment
now. And this is not the first operational deployment,” he said. “If your
adversary is so concerned about what your capabilities are they decide not to
engage with you, that, to me, is the ultimate use of your military capability.
People pay attention to where this airplane goes and what it does. … We need to
make sure that it’s a sustained part of our inventory.”
A command-directed F-22 stand-down from
May to September 2011 was a prudent measure following reports of potential
oxygen system malfunctions, the general said. Since the stand-down, he added,
Air Combat Command has implemented risk mitigation measures intended to protect
F-22 pilots and maintenance crews and prevent future incidents.
Though he understands there are still
concerns about the aircraft, Hostage said, a certain amount of risk always is
involved and must be balanced with the requirement for the capability.
“In a peacetime training circumstance,
we want to operate at as low of risk is prudent for the level of training we
get out of a mission,” he explained. “When we go into combat, risk goes up, but
the reason to assume that risk goes up as well.
“We live in a community where risk is
part of our lives,” he continued. “If we think the risk has gone to a level
where we just can’t accept it, we either reduce that risk or eliminate it. But
right now, we believe that risk -- although it’s not as low as we would like it
-- is low enough to safely operate the airplane at the current tempo.”
Hostage said he doesn’t expect his
airmen to take the risk alone. In an effort to learn more about the aircraft
and get a better understanding of what F-22 pilots are dealing with, he said,
hesoon will begin flying the Raptor himself.
“I’m asking these guys to assume some
risk that’s over and above what everybody else is assuming, and I don’t feel
like it’s right that I ask them to do it and then I’m not willing to do it
myself -- that’s not fair,” he said. The day officials figure out the problem
is the day he will stop flying, he added.
Since the aircraft resumed flying
operations in September, the F-22 has flown more than 12,000 sorties and
returned to operational capability.
“We’ve taken a very specific, methodical
approach to how we return to flying -- the types of missions and the durations
of the missions,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles W. Lyon, Air Combat
Command’s director of operations, who also participated in the media
roundtable. “We’ve been continually increasing the types and durations.”
The Air Force continues to search for
the root cause of the unexplained physiological incidents using detailed
data-collection methods, which will soon include centrifuge and high-energy
testing. Hostage said he believes the command is making significant progress
toward an answer, but he emphasized that scientific testing and data collection
take time.
“I believe we are making significant
progress toward an answer,” Hostage said. “I don’t want to characterize how far
or when, because I don’t own the progress of science. But I am confident we’re
going to get to a solution.”
Both Lyon and Hostage compared this to
the early days of the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Although the first F-16 had its
first operational flight in 1970, the combat edge aircrew flight equipment,
which was optimized for high-G flight, wasn’t fielded until about 1988, Lyon
said.
“We didn’t field it slowly because we
had fiscal challenges,” he said. “It took us that long to get the understanding
over time of what was actually happening.”
Hostage said a similar situation exists
with the F-22 regarding the unknown effects of human physiology and technology.
“What we’re looking at is human
physiology and the regime this airplane operates in,” he said. “This airplane
does things airplanes have never done before in regimes of flight that we’ve
never operated in before.”
Hostage said he’s confident a solution
for what he calls “the most tactically-capable aircraft in the world” will
come.
“This nation needs this airplane – and
every one of them,” he said. “I wish I had 10 times as many as I have.”
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