Saturday, June 16, 2012

F-22 a fighter to stop breathing...literally

The F-22 Raptor is the most advanced and most expensive fighter plane in the world. It's invisible to radar, flying at 619 meters per second, each unit costs $ 150 million (119 million €), is equipped with the latest technology (known) on Earth, which makes it the most lethal weapon with wings . But all in all, today has been more a concern than security for the U.S.. All because of problems with the system that administers oxygen to pilots.
In an unprecedented initiative, some of the 'aces in the air' of the U.S. Air Force came to give the guy in the influential program "60 Minutes" of the CBS, to report a fear of flying aboard the advanced war machine. Some left even fly, complained of hypoxia, or oxygen privation, disorientation and even serious problems but.
It is suspected that was a problem with the supply of oxygen that caused a fatal accident last year, which meant that the fleet stayed ashore for five months.
Now there are two members of Congress to show that this problem is more serious than previously thought. Adam Kinzinger and Mark R. Warner released data from the Air Force realize about 26 incidents of oxygen deprivation for every 100,000 hours of flight, a rate 10 times higher than any other U.S. military aircraft.
Lawmakers also revealed that a survey conducted in early 2011 'most of the F-22 pilots did not feel confident' on board the device, due to this problem. 
The F-22, developed by Lockheed Martin, is the world's most expensive fighter. Still, despite the fleet being operated by pilots of the elite, was never used in combat operations since its entry into service in 2005. 
The Air Force tried to solve the problem by installing an air filter for high performance. But the tests that were performed revealed that the pilots were adversely affected by this system.
Experts say you can not detect the problem. Until then the activity of hunting, considered almost unbeatable in combat, at least in theory, remain stifled.
In a project with increasing shortness of breath, until the Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, has imposed restrictions on the use of the F-22 last month.

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