The US Air Force Boeing F15A-D Eagle fleet is grounded after preliminary findings of a crash investigation show signs of a design weakness.
Air Combat Command (ACC) ordered the stand-down until the airframes can be inspected. An inspection checklist is being prepared by the Warner-Robins Air Logistics Center, an ACC spokesman says.
With a price tag of $130 million per F-22A Raptor $330 million including research and development costs critics wonder why millions more will have to be spent to fix corrosion problems and design flaws on some of the 104 stealth fighters delivered so far by manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Leaky fuselage access panels at the top of the jet are leading to corrosion issues in many planes. Also, problems with its core structure particularly the forward boom, which supports the plane’s weight and must endure the stresses of high-G maneuvers must be fixed. These are among the latest in a series of problems for the Raptor as it moves from developmental test jet to operational fighter. Another problem, overheating avionics, was fixed in the last year.
For the second time in just over two years, an F-22A Raptor suffered extensive engine damage after the jet power plant sucked in debris.
On Nov. 1, maintainers at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., discovered damage to the jet’s F119 engine during a post-flight inspection. Officials concluded the right-side engine
To block American proposals for building missile defenses in Europe, President Vladimir Putin of Russia surprised the White House in June with a counteroffer to let the United States use of one of the Kremlin's most secret early-warning radars.
That Russian radar, located in Azerbaijan, a neighbor of Iran, has since been a central focus of negotiations between Washington and Moscow. But much about it had remained mysterious.
Now, the first American military officer to visit the Russian radar said Friday that he came away with significant impressions: The radar is huge, almost twice the size of a similar American system. Despite its reliance on outdated, vacuum tube technology, the system is extremely capable as an early warning radar scanning the skies over the Middle East.
The dreaded BANG! came from deep within the F-16's lone engine, shaking the warplane as it made passes over an Arizona bombing range last December. Then came the alarming loss of thrust.
Two attempts to restart the engine failed. Having exhausted their options, the pilot and his student bailed out, parachuting to safety before the plane slammed into the Sonoran Desert, a $21 million loss for taxpayers.
Not all F-16 pilots have been so lucky recently. The accident rate for this workhorse fighter has risen over the past few years, and two pilots have died in the past year, according to an Associated Press review of Air Force documents.
Boeing and its P-8A Poseidon team last month completed the program's 200th live-fire shot at the U.S. Navy's Weapons Survivability Laboratory in China Lake, Calif.
P-8A live-fire testing enhances aircraft survivability and reduces program risk by providing engineers with reliable data that can be incorporated into the Poseidon's dry bay fire-protection design.
Lockheed Martin is to modify a Dornier 328Jet to demonstrate advanced composite airframe technology for a future tractical transport.
The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has authorised Lockheed's Skunk Works to proceed into Phase II of the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) flight demonstration programme.
Aurora Flight Sciences was competing to build the X-plane demonstrator. AFRL is investigating opportunities for Aurora to collaborate with Lockheed on the demonstration of additional technologies.
Because AFRL wants the demonstrator to fly within 12 months, Lockheed will replace the mid/aft fuselage and empennage of the high-wing, twin-turbofan 328Jet with advanced composite structures."With ACCA we are attempting to reinvent the manufacturing paradigm through the strategic use of composite manufacturin
Plane's tail section, struts and fuselage to be built in Wichita
Spirit AeroSystems is a major partner in a Boeing-led team to provide the U.S. Navy with its next long-range, anti-submarine aircraft.
To underscore that role, Boeing's P-8A Poseidon mobile demonstration trailer is at Spirit this week, giving employees and others a glimpse of the plane's capabilities.
Spirit will build the plane's fuselage, airframe tail sections and struts in Wichita.
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