Why the Air Force's Mighty F-22 Raptor Fleet Is In Serious Trouble

[rangerrebew]

October 16, 2018
Why the Air Force's Mighty F-22 Raptor Fleet Is In Serious Trouble

All thanks to one storm.
by Task and Purpose Jared Keller

In an update the 325th Fighter Wing  shared on Facebook in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael’s landfall, leadership at the Florida base detailed a “complete loss” of base facilities. Several critical installations sustained “catastrophic” damage; other facilities, like the Tyndall marina and docks, are simply gone.

But the most devastating impact of Michael may lie far beyond the bases’ devastated flight line and reverberate across the U.S. military’s air superiority posture at a time when the service branches are focused on their expanding their capabilities.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-air-forces-mighty-f-22-raptor-fleet-serious-trouble-33571

[SZonian]

It takes time to unravel budget cuts that were shortsighted or based on political decisions.

I can remember in the early 80s after President Reagan was elected.  Carter's cuts had decimated the military.  And even though the Administration was throwing truckloads of money at the DoD, it still took a couple of years for the supply chain to get ramped up and for us to be able to get C-5 aircraft FMC rates above 75%.  We were cannibalizing parts for engines and just about any other aircraft part one could think of.  It was not uncommon to have an aircraft sitting on the line post-periodical inspection unable to complete all it's ops checks due to a shortage of parts.

Time will tell if this incident is catalyst for the DoD to really take a look at what's going on logistically and fix the problems.