In 16 years the service has lost four F-22s. The Air Force at present plans to operate the Raptor through the 2050s. That’s 17 F-22s the Air Force can afford to lose in crashes or in combat before existing squadrons must start cutting their flyable strength. The overall back-up inventory now is 17 planes. Two were test planes.Ī back-up Block 10/20 presumably will replace the F-22 that crashed at Eglin, reducing to two the extra training planes in the inventory. In other words, the Air Force had 18 Raptors that it considered “extra.” Thirteen were combat-coded Block 30/35/40 models. The balance, 18 airframes, was in the back-up inventory. Test units at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and Edwards Air Force Base in California flew 16 of the oldest Raptors. The Tyndall-based 325th Fighter Wing trained all F-22 pilots on 29 older Block 10/20 F-22s. The Air Force spread that unit’s F-22s across the other front-line Raptor squadrons. One with the Air National Guard’s 154th Fighter Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.Ī sixth front-line squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida disbanded after Hurricane Michael badly damaged Tyndall in 2018. Two with the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. Two with the 1st Fighter Wing at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia. The Air Force in 2020 split its Raptor inventory three ways.īefore the Eglin crash, 123 of the latest Block 30/35/40 F-22s equipped five front-line squadrons. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman John Linzmeier training on Apat Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. Desperate to shore up its fighter numbers, the Air Force in its 2020 budget restarted acquisition of the BoeingĪll that is to say that every F-22 is precious.į-22 Raptors, a KC-135 Stratotanker and a C-17 Globemaster III taxi on the runway during routine. Design flaws also have limited the F-35’s ability to fly at supersonic speeds. Meanwhile America’s other stealth fighter, the ground-attack-optimized F-35, proved to be a mediocre dogfighter. Older American planes such as the A-10 and F-16 could be vulnerable without adequate protection from F-22s. The explosive growth in Chinese military power and the appearance of Chinese and Russian stealth-fighter designs underscored the growing challenge to America’s command of the air. Within a few years, however, it was clear that Gates’ decision was premature. “But, the F-22 is, in effect, a niche, silver-bullet solution required for a limited number of scenarios-to overcome advanced enemy fighters and air-defense systems,” Gates added. “There is no doubt that the F-22 has unique capabilities that we need-the penetration and defeat of an advanced enemy air-defense and fighter fleet,” Gates explained at the time. Instead, Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2009 abruptly ended Raptor production. As recently as the early 2000s, the Air Force anticipated buying more than 400 F-22s in order to replace, on a one-for-one basis, all the F-15C Eagle fighters then in the inventory.