A pair of F-22s assigned the 411th Flight Test Squadron. USAF
The Drive: The USAF Is Adding a Newish F-22 to its Fleet of Flight Test Raptors
Pulled from storage, the Raptor will help test a variety of modifications, possibly including classified upgrades.
The U.S. Air Force may have shot down recent plans to restart production of the F-22 Raptor, but it will soon add one more of the stealth fighters to its active fleet. The service has pulled one the jets out of mothballs in order to expand its operational test force as work continues to expand the capabilities of the combat-coded jets.
The Air Force confirmed to FlightGlobal that it was in the process of rehabilitating an Raptor, with the serial number 91-4006, at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Edwards is home to the 411th Flight Test Squadron, which oversees the F-22 Combined Test Force (CTF).
The Raptor, which is a Block 10 aircraft, had been in flyable storage. An Air Force spokesperson told FlightGlobal that it would take $25 million bring the plane’s avionics up to Block 20 standards, as well as update its electrical and hydraulics systems and flight controls.
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Update: USAF returns mothballed Raptor to fleet (Flight Global).
WNU Editor: I am surprised by this report. I was not aware that the US Air Force had F-22s in mothballs.
1 comment:
Reports of current F-117 flight operations pop up once in a while out of Tonopah. Apparently they're also all kept in "flyable storage".
/B61 Drone
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