F-22 Crumbling Skin

[MIflyer]

It appears that the F-22's radar absorbent skin offers some significant maintenance issues. No wonder the USAF says they can hardly wait to replace it with a new generation fighter that is less costly to maintain. And we are buying new F-15's, a design that is over 50 years old.

When I was at the Pentagon the USAF cancelled our advanced space booster programs so the money could be spent on the F-22, when Congress cut the funding.

 

[GTX]

This was first seen a few years ago

 

[pb43]

It appears that the F-22's radar absorbent skin offers some significant maintenance issues. No wonder the USAF says they can hardly wait to replace it with a new generation fighter that is less costly to maintain. And we are buying new F-15's, a design that is over 50 years old.

When I was at the Pentagon the USAF cancelled our advanced space booster programs so the money could be spent on the F-22, when Congress cut the funding.

View attachment 774286View attachment 774285

08-4156 (MSN 645-4156) 94th FS Active 26feb10 jul19 - obviously an area which has paint adhesion issues. The FLIR camera port may have something to do with the choice of materials.

 

[SaparotRob]

Seeing as how the U.S. isn't in a shooting war, I imagine a lot of expensive stealth coating maintenance might be postponed on some craft training over CONUS. I've seen that mentioned on the Forum. It was also brought up in numerous videos. USAF has "radar reflectors" ("enhancers"?) on F-22s and F-35s so even we can keep track of where they are during training exercises. The faults on some planes' coatings might not be the issue screaming headlines make it out to be.

 

[Admiral Beez]

It appears that the F-22's radar absorbent skin offers some significant maintenance issues. No wonder the USAF says they can hardly wait to replace it with a new generation fighter that is less costly to maintain. And we are buying new F-15's, a design that is over 50 years old.

Nothing new lasts very long nowadays. My F-15 era clothes dryer is still running strong, and still is my F-101 era motorcycle. But damn, after my F-4 era refrigerator finally died in 2015, its F-22 era replacement lasted only five years before dying and being replaced with the latest F-35 era model. If I get six years out of it I'll be impressed.

The first F-4 Phantom II entered service in 1960. Sixty-four years later the type remains in service with two NATO air forces (Greece, Turkey), plus South Korea and Iran. Kudos to the MacGyvers in Iran who keep theirs flying.

How does Iran manage to keep its ageing F-4 Phantom IIs flying?

Babak Taghvaee investigates how the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force restores and upgrades its damaged US-built McDonnell Douglas F-4D/E Phantom IIs

www.key.aero

The first F-22 entered service in 2005. I expect that within ten years, or 2035 they'll be all but retired. That's probably around the same time that Iran retires their Phantoms.