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F-22 updates could run $1.7B or more

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posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 02:49 PM
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The Air Force estimates that it would take approximately $1.7B over 11 years to upgrade 34 F-22s from Block 20 to Block 30/35. The aircraft are currently used for pilot training and flight test. Thirty-one aircraft are trainers, and the other three are flight test. All would require a minimum of 4 generations of upgrades. The Air Force already plans a "billion dollar upgrade" for the existing Block 30/35 fleet to finally include HMCS, and other improvements.

Some upgrades could cost more, as parts are no longer made for the APG-77 radar that was upgraded under the common configuration upgrade. Options including replacing parts of the APG-77 with parts of the F-35's APG-81 radar are being looked at, but upgrades are not currently planned to start until 2021.


The US Air Force estimates it would cost more than $1.7 billion over 11 years to upgrade 34 Lockheed Martin F-22s from a training configuration to a fully modernised, operational status, according to a USAF report sent to Congress.

The August report, recently obtained by FlightGlobal, outlines the estimated cost and schedule to bring 31 Block 20 Raptors supporting pilot training and another three Block 20 aircraft supporting flight test to the combat-coded Block 30/35 configuration.

Block 20 aircraft would need at least four generations of upgrades -- and perhaps more -- to keep up with the combat-coded fleet if installation kits are funded after 2025.

www.flightglobal.com...



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 03:07 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

What a giant waiste of money...spend the billion on burrying all the power lines in the US...
edit on 31-10-2017 by chrismarco because: (no reason given)



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 03:52 PM
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That doesn't seem too much to me considering the aircraft the F-22 is. New F-22 and upgrades for 1.7bil I think that's a good offer ... if only I was a giant oil tycoon



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 03:56 PM
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$50,000,000 per aircraft for 'upgrades'

How many flight hours will they have left on them once those 'upgrades' are finally done?

What the hell are we doing with our money?? I love cool military tech but holy crap we're losing our minds here. Stop screwing up procurement in the first place you morons.



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 04:06 PM
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a reply to: PhantomTwo

A lot. The F-22 has to date used a small fraction of their life cycle. They were originally designed with an 8,000 hour life cycle on the airframe, but fatigue testing has them thinking it could reach almost 13,000 without a SLEP, and at least 15,000 with one. That will put them close to 2060 before they're all retired.

They didn't screw up procurement. Technology changes, and you have to change the airframes to go with it. Look at all the upgrades and changes existing aircraft have gone through.



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 04:20 PM
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a reply to: chrismarco

Agreed.

The Military Indust Com is staring the American people in the face with multiple projects that are way way way way over budget and some that are behind schedules. And we are to just agree this is new tech and there is not way to gauge the cost. BS

Wonder what the political lobby for some of these corps look like, probably like the pharma and medical.



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 04:23 PM
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a reply to: chrismarco

Which might get a tiny fraction of a small city done. The Virginia State Commission did a study in 2005. To bury their power lines, just for Virginia, would have cost $80B, taken over 10 years, and cost the user $250 extra a month.



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 04:30 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58
What was the total cost of the F-22? Something like 70 billion?

Close to getting the lines buried, if that's important.



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 04:32 PM
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The F22 is a near perfect platform...

Why not keep them updated?
The B52 is a similar example of a superb, timeless platform which is perfectly suited for upgrades as they become available/invented...

Spend away...

And PS, as a taxpayer I wouldn’t mind seeing $40B or so going to NASA for a return trip to the moon...musk hasn’t reached NASAs 1959 capability...make no mistak, he is not Werner Von Braun...an impressive man perhaps in the vein of Henry Ford but not equipped for man-rating rocketry...

Our future lies in the stars...our present is terrestrial...

Fund them both for Christ’s sake..

-Chris



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 04:35 PM
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a reply to: seasonal

Program cost was $62B. That wouldn't even bury the lines in one state. And even if they did bury them, thousands of people would no longer be able to afford power unless they did something to bail them out.



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 04:40 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

I would rather have the jet than Virginia's lines buried. And that is saying something.



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 09:14 PM
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originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: chrismarco

Which might get a tiny fraction of a small city done. The Virginia State Commission did a study in 2005. To bury their power lines, just for Virginia, would have cost $80B, taken over 10 years, and cost the user $250 extra a month.


Our city is halfway through a 100 year plan to bury lines. It not as easy as just digging a trench. Plus buried power lines in earthquake zones are a whole different matter.



posted on Oct, 31 2017 @ 09:20 PM
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The question is is the APG-81 going to provide the same level of power as the -77 or would it perhaps be better?

Also I think this is a much much better plan than reopening the line. But I would also like to see more upgrades incorporated across the fleet. Like an F-35 like helmet with its cuing system and perhaps other sensor upgrades etc.



posted on Nov, 1 2017 @ 05:20 AM
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Pull out the APG-77 and replace with the APG-81.



posted on Nov, 1 2017 @ 06:33 AM
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a reply to: FredT
Fred the original spiral development outline for the F-22 was supposed to see a nominal block 40 or so equipped with all that including the cheek AESA arrays as well as the "usual suspects" upgrades in mission computers/processing power etc. As for the APG-77 versus APG-81, it might be possible to replace it with the 81 back end, but give it a larger array with more T/R modules to take advantage of the extra radome diameter. The 81 will be easier to upgrade processor wise as well which you will need with a greater number of T/R modules. That is something you might want to look at rolling out across the entire 185 odd surviving airframes.




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