F-22s are corroding, need costly fix

[SpArK]

F-22s are corroding, need costly fix​

Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON - Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-22 jets began corroding soon after being introduced into the Air Force in 2005, and the Defense Department plans to spend $228 million through 2016 to fix the deteriorating aluminum-skin panels, the Government Accountability Office said in a report.

The newer F-35 aircraft, also built by Lockheed, have an improved design and use updated materials and paint to prevent such corrosion, the report sent Thursday to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees said.

Corrosion of the panels was first observed less than six months after the F-22 jets were first deployed, the report said. By October 2007, 534 cases of damage to the panels were documented, it said, and "corrosion in the substructure was becoming prevalent."

Air Force spokesman Chris Isleib said the service was reviewing the report and had no immediate comment.

Lockheed spokesman Christopher McGee said by e-mail that the F-22s experienced corrosion because of "interaction" with stealth materials used to hide them from enemy radar. Lockheed has developed alternative material that "eliminated that interaction" and began changing the fleet in early 2010, he said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in 2009 curtailed production of F-22s to the 187 planes on order. The F-35 is in the early stages of production.



Read more: GAO: F-22s are corroding, need costly fix | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/17/2010
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

 

[Frank Martin]

Very interesting news, such an advanced Aircraft but lacks the basic preventions!

 

[pakdefender]

This is quite extra ordinary to know that F-22s are being eaten by rust , who would have thought of this

This news is like that of iPhone4 that the most costly and shiny phone loses its main function when held in a certain way.

I think the best warfare tool that developing countries should develop to protect themselves against 21st century imperialists is to develop bacteria that eat away metal, plastic and semiconductors.

Bacteria that can eat metal are there, these have been found to be eating way the titanic wreckage.

New metal-eating bacteria found on Titanic – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

The rate at which these eat is very slow, research needs to go into how the eating can be speeded up.

Bacteria are also found on hydro thermal vents and a can withstand extreme heat so a genetically created bacteria which can eat metal and withstand extreme heat would be a killer for all forms of jet engines.

Similarly bacteria that can eat plastic and semiconductors (like silicon) would be deadly for all forms of ICs , whose outer packaging is plastic and the die inside is made of semiconductor materials.

At the very basic level different types of bactera can be crossed by transferring plasmids from one bacteria to another (this is given in most GCSE books )

The advantage of this type of research is that it can be tucked away in small highly sophisticated labs away from prying eyes and this can be a very effective defensive weapon and I don’t see why it cannot be developed.

 

[LongLiveBritian]

What type of material was made to build the F-22?

 

[gambit]

Duuhh...Here comes the peanut gallery with no experience whatsoever jumping on the bandwagon...

 

[Developereo]

Well, an F22 is like a Ferrari. The initial cost is just a down payment. It's the upkeep that eats you up.

 

[amalakas]

Duuhh...Here comes the peanut gallery with no experience whatsoever jumping on the bandwagon...

Agreed.

 

[amalakas]

Well, an F22 is like a Ferrari. The initial cost is just a down payment. It's the upkeep that eats you up.

I owned a 348 for 3 years... I paid about $2000 on some brake parts and a good service and that was it.
I own a bmw for 2 years and I have paid about $5000 so far on various little things going wrong here and there.. so ......

 

[Parashuram1]

The aircraft certainly seems to show no mercy on American economy. Very surprising news.

 

[Chogy]

Aluminum doesn't "rust", it oxidizes, and is normally self-limiting. We have had the technology since before WW2 to keep aluminum healthy via chromate primers and paint.

But advanced stealth coatings are new and different. There's obviously some sort of galvanic action occurring. Using the updated coating will prevent this.

It's no big deal. Any new technology needs to be refined.

 

[amalakas]

Aluminum doesn't "rust", it oxidizes,

so does iron and steel .. rust is the name we give to oxidation,
Rusted aluminum is called aluminum oxide.

other than that i agree..

 

[gambit]

Aluminum doesn't "rust", it oxidizes, and is normally self-limiting. We have had the technology since before WW2 to keep aluminum healthy via chromate primers and paint.

But advanced stealth coatings are new and different. There's obviously some sort of galvanic action occurring. Using the updated coating will prevent this.

It's no big deal. Any new technology needs to be refined.

It WILL be a 'big deal'. It MUST be a 'big deal' for these people. It CANNOT be anything but a 'big deal' for these people.

 

[no_name]

Rust = common term for compounds of iron oxidation process.
Products from oxidation of other metals are not referred to as rust.

 

[amalakas]

The thing is this whole discussion is pointless...

I don't even know why the thread was started for something so trivial.

 

[gambit]

The thing is this whole discussion is pointless...

I don't even know why the thread was started for something so trivial.

It is not pointless and trivial. It is a 'big deal' because it MUST be a 'big deal'......If we have to modify the piston to raise the canopy just an inch higher to ease ingress/egress, then it is another round of 'OMG-the-Raptor-is-too-expensive' from the peanut gallery...