F-22 Raptor’s 1st ever combat mission a ‘success’

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F-22A Raptor
Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor carries out a ‘Dedication Pass’ as part of it’s display at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska. Keith Draycott/FlickrVision/Getty Images

The F-22 Raptor, one of the most expensive fighters in the world, undertook and successfully completed a combat mission for the first time ever Monday in Syria.

The next generation Raptor, which has a total program price tag north of $79 billion, had sat out two wars and at least one previous smaller conflict since going operational in late 2005 before being called on to hit a single target in Syria Monday: an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) “command and control building.”

“The flight of the F-22s delivered GPS-guided munitions, precision munitions targeting only the right side of the building,” Lt. Gen. William Mayville told reporters, referring to presentation slides of the operation. “And you can see that the control — the command and control center where it was located in the building was destroyed.”

The stealth F-22 has had chances to fight before – during Air Force operations in Iraq and in Afghanistan as well as its role in the no-fly zone over Libya in 2011 – but in each case the Air Force said the high-tech jet was not an “operational requirement.”

The Pentagon apparently decided the U.S.-led strikes against ISIS in Syria, for which the Syrian government says it was given warning, were different.

“Basically, we look at the aircraft and the crews that we have and we make a determination on how to portion those things, based on a lot of factors: location, nature of the target, weapons that may need to be used,” Air Force Central Command Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis told ABC News. “In this case, the F-22 was the weapon that got assigned to that particular target.”

“The mission was a success,” he added.

Previously F-22 Raptors have been reportedly stationed at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, one of the Arab nations that the military said participated in the strikes against ISIS in Syria. Sholtis declined to comment on where the fighters were forward deployed for this mission, except that they were in the Gulf region.

While the Air Force had said the F-22’s advanced capabilities simply weren’t necessary for the previous conflicts, the plane also suffered from troubling issues of its own.

ISIS comman center before and after
Pictures showing an ISIS command and control Center in Syria before, left, and after it was struck by bombs dropped by a U.S. F-22 fighter jet are seen in handouts released by the U.S. Department of Defense, Sept. 23, 2014.

Most disturbing were instances in which pilots reported feeling the symptoms of oxygen deprivation while flying the high-performance machines. From 2008 to 2012 pilots reported experiencing confusion, sluggishness or disorientation – sometimes even blackouts – at the controls of the plane more than two dozen times. In one instance, a pilot became so disoriented that his plane skimmed treetops before he was able to pull up and save himself. In May 2012, two Raptor pilots told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” they were too afraid to fly the plane.

In another, more drastic case, Air Force pilot Capt. Jeff Haney died in a crash in 2010 after the oxygen system in his plane malfunctioned. After an investigation, the Air Force faulted Haney for failing to fly the plane properly while suffering a “sense similar to suffocation.” The plane’s manufacturers eventually settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the Haney family.

The F-22 fleet was grounded multiple times while the Air Force investigated the oxygen issue and by late 2012 the service believed it had a handle on the problems – several small ones, rather than one big one. Eventually the planes were allowed back in the air.

ABC

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36 responses to “F-22 Raptor’s 1st ever combat mission a ‘success’”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Time to try it at Kobane? ISIS is on top of the hill now – can’t miss them.

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Very funny as says the stalker..Please tell me how did ISIS land on the top of the hill in Syria overlooking Kobane? By parachuting? Everybody, the coalition sacrificed Kobane because they didn’t want to join the anti Assad camp. Centcom Amiral Kirby admitted they followed ISIS leaving Raka, on their way to Kobane.. i don’t know could be 25 kilometres…while Kobane was begging the Coalition to strike their advance..it was disturbing, then Turkey allowed the long convoy to joint the fighting. Turkish TV showed ISIS walking freely in their territories entering Syria positioning on a hill overlooking Kobane. ISIS have taken 200 villages, that’s because they are allowed.

      http://www.imctv.com.tr/2014/10/01/isid-turkiye-sinirinda-boyle-hareket-ediyor/
      Turkish officials denied it

      1. MekensehParty Avatar
        MekensehParty

        Enough crap Hind. Nobody saved the Kurds in Irbil or Kobane but the Americans. I didn’t see Turkey (your ex-hero), Hezbollah, Assad or Iran lift a finger to save a whole population from being massacred. If you truly want freedom for the Christians of the Levant you need to start siding with the countries that offer freedom, not countries of dictators who “protect” the Christians at the price of their freedom.

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          You are truly mad..Kobane is pro-Syrian Government they’re cut off, Kobane refused FSA spies come fight with them..US-Turkey then dispatched Peshmerga ISIS from Iraq illegally entering Syria.

          Why your side vilifies Syrian girl?
          Because she shows knows everything about terrorism. FSA torturing Handicap Syrian man.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUtNmcVBSs0

          Why is your side’s hiding West (&Israel) intentions about Christians of the Levant, vilifying Mother Agnes? Because everybody knew everybody as it’s the custom in Christian community, FSA Syrian revolution started by raping and massacring Christians in Homs with help from foreign Jihads.

          http://www.fides.org/en/news/33906-ASIA_SYRIA_Rape_and_atrocities_on_a_young_Christian_in_Qusair#.VFOzymdFvSf

          1. 5thDrawer Avatar

            Don’t worry … as the website ‘All Wheel Drive’ says. the Kurdish Ladies have the ISIS-types running in fear …. 🙂
            They are also very cute Ladies. Wonderful. They may yet teach the Syrian girls a thing or two about themselves. That they CAN.
            http://www.awdnews.com/top-news/10101-isis-fears-these-female-kurdish-fighters-for-some-very-good-reasons.html

          2. 5thDrawer Avatar

            I have known some vulgar, and a few sexist, people … but they didn’t shoot at me, or chop heads off, because I wasn’t like them or didn’t agree with everything they said. They even found love for families – which didn’t necessarily turn out to be quite like them, but still had the respect and love in that sense.
            One could say, good people poorly trained.
            ‘Haut Couture’ needs to be practiced … but sometimes it’s SUCH a bore. 😉

          3. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            I was speaking about different cultures, nothing to do with shop heads off.

          4. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            you’re just a lunatic with a spider web of illusions for a brain
            I always felt bad for you, you live in a state of fundamental contradictions and complete denial of the established truth.
            Anyway do what you want and think however you want, the wheels of the world are turning in the right direction, opposite your direction.
            One thing I’ll ask you though, please stop putting gore pictures of bodies, torture and mutilations… If you like these pictures so much build yourself a museum with them but you have no right of publishing them on the blog. What would you say if someone publishes all kind of disgusting pictures daily on the blog? It’s not right and please stop this disgusting habit.

          5. 5thDrawer Avatar

            I didn’t even push ‘play’ on that one Mekenseh.
            And there ARE better You-Tube and other experiences.
            Really ….
            We need soothing music and scenes … and the music is pleasurable in this one … OH, But I will warn the Ladies about it because, it is The Beach …
            http://player.vimeo.com/video/57012513

          6. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            3akrout ya sabeh enta
            😉

          7. 5thDrawer Avatar

            glad you found the music relaxing …. 🙂

          8. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            the rhythm and symmetry are hypnotizing

          9. 5thDrawer Avatar

            Yes … rhythm of the planet … natural and free. 🙂
            Not enough of us appreciate that … maybe because the air is too cold and the waves too rough in some parts … but here it revives a soul.

          10. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            I call it soul too
            hahahaha

          11. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            That’s not my habit! I published it for your eyes only, because you never stop making me sick, so you stop teaching me the right way..what pretension, only the elite the writers, the most intelligent happen to like me..
            and i can’t watch these things, bla bla bla…

            NB. I never visit YouToo except for a particular Mahler song or Schubert, to forget you and Netanyahoo..

          12. 5thDrawer Avatar

            Mahler ? You like Mahler ?? Poor old Gustav…..

          13. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Why poor old Gustave 5th cousin, you saw him in a movie?

          14. 5thDrawer Avatar

            I was just surprised you enjoyed a Jewish Bohemian. :-))
            Some find his music too ‘dreary’ … sad … but then, he was a ‘romantic’. 😉
            You should like this site ….
            http://www.last.fm/music/Gustav+Mahler

          15. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Thank you very much:)) fantastic site, do you have to subscribe? I like the lied (song).

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plPriJ3NY3U
            “mine ‘a’ kline ‘a’ ears..”Why the ‘a’?

          16. 5thDrawer Avatar

            (oh mine a kline a ears ….) 😉

          17. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            I didn’t know the link would open on the blog..imposing Mahler.
            PS (ich hatte einen cline eine ohren)..

          18. 5thDrawer Avatar

            the accent …

          19. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            What?Your cousin has no respect for anything..

          20. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            A Maher song? I’m sure you’re used to those.
            Be a sweetheart like Barabie and take a break, maybe you’ll finally see the real world.

          21. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            What an ignorant colonized man.. Mahler was Jewish

          22. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            AND besides, how dare you call an article from Fides, the Vatican, disgusting? Get out of my view, Dibb!! Schnell..

          23. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            You and the Vatican SARL can go to the movies

          24. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            You & old party can go to hell too.. schnell !!

          25. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Malmequer-Guest gives you two likes when you address Hind, the fool indicate both petit IQ..tse tse tse you too

          26. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            keep counting

          27. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            ..when you address me.

          28. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            3 Guests love from Malmequer huumm.. kisses too.

            Mister Mekezetc..i don’t like the way you speak to me, please stop the useless aggression nothing positive will come from it. Thank you.

          29. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            4 Guest Aka Malmequer love..:)

        2. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          i counted 4 Guest loving.. (when you speak to me)..

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