February 20, 2019
Stealth Shortage? The Air Force Cannibalized a Stealth F-22 Raptor Squadron
by David Axe
Leaving aside the recent hurricane damage, accidents have destroyed at least two front-line F-22s and two test planes and badly damaged several others. Raptors are in such short supply that the Air Force spent tens of millions of dollars and four years repairing one F-22 that suffered damage during a training flight at Tyndall in 2012.
There was a silver lining in the hurricane that devastated Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida's panhandle region in October 2018.
The storm forced the U.S. Air Force to redeploy Tyndall's resident squadrons of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters -- and gave the flying branch the chance to boost the size of other F-22 units, making them more efficient.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/stealth-shortage-air-force-cannibalized-stealth-f-22-raptor-squadron-45107
