The U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighters Will Not Meet Its Readiness Goals

Lockheed Martin

David Axe, National Interest: The U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighters Have a Problem

Air Force stealth fighters won’t meet the 80-percent readiness goal that former defense secretary Jim Mattis decreed before quitting the Defense Department.

The U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor stealth fighters won’t meet the 80-percent readiness goal that former defense secretary Jim Mattis decreed before quitting the Defense Department in protest of Pres. Donald Trump’s foreign policy in January 2019.

Mattis had mandated all Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps F-15, F-16, F/A-18, F-22 and F-35 squadrons to achieve an 80-percent mission-capable rate by the end of September 2019.

In March 2019 then-Air Force secretary Heather Wilson warned that the 186-strong F-22 force might fall short of the readiness goal. Three months later Air Force brigadier general Heath Collins, the service's program executive officer for fighters and bombers, made it official.

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WNU Editor:  It all comes down to money and economics of scale.

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