Raptor F-22 Awali `Karier Tempur` Hantam ISIS di Suriah
F-22 Raptor Makes Debut Combat Flight
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
WASHINGTON (AP) - Setelah dikembangkan sejak 1990-an, pesawat jet tempur AS untuk abad 21, yang tampil ramping, dan mampu menghindari pantauan radar musuh, akhirnya menjalani tugas tempurnya yang pertama.
Belum pernah digunakan di Afghanistan atau Irak, pesawat jet tempur terbaru Angkatan Udara AS ini membuat debut tempur pekan ini, berperan penting dalam gelombang kedua serangan udara di Suriah, menurut Pentagon, seperti dilansir MailOnline.
Lima hal yang perlu diketahui tentang F-22:
1. Misi tempur pertamanya dengan menjatuhkan bom pada gedung utama dan kawasan yang dikuasai kelompok ISIS di Raqqa. Saat briefing di Pentagon pada Selasa, Letjen William Mayville menunjukkan sebelum dan sesudah serangan udara. Serangan udara yang dilancarkan F-22 dinyatakan sukses dengan menampilkan hancurnya pusat komando ISIS.
2. F-22 dikembangkan oleh Lockheed Martin, dengan subkontraktor utama seperti Boeing, sebagai jet tempur abad ke-21 untuk menggantikan berbagai model pesawat tua F-15. Dengan desain siluman, F-22 dengan satu kursi dibangun untuk menghindari radar dan memiliki mesin kembar yang memungkinkan untuk terbang lebih cepat dari kecepatan suara. Produksi pertama F-22 Raptor dimulai pada 1999 dan dikirim ke Angkatan Udara pada 2002. Pesawat terakhir dikirimkan pada 2012.
3. Harga satu unit F-22 lumayan tinggi. Tiap pesawat harganya sekitar US$190 juta. Lebih dari 190 jet tempur F-22 diproduksi untuk militer AS, termasuk delapan pesawat uji.
4. Program Raptor mengalami perubahan desain dan biaya. Ketika pengembangan F-22 diresmikan pada 1997, kritikus mengeluh tentang biaya program yang mahal. Pada saat itu, Angkatan Udara memesan 438 unit F-22, dengan biaya sekitar US$45 miliar. Kemudian nilai pesanan militer dikaji ulang. Pada 2010, Menteri Pertahanan Robert Gates mengatakan kepada Kongres ia bersedia untuk memotong program F-22 karena terlalu mahal.
5. Muncul masalah keselamatan pada 2011 ketika uji coba F-22 dan harus di-grounded selama empat bulan setelah pilot mengeluh pusing dan kekurangan oksigen di kokpit. Dokumen internal yang diperoleh oleh The Associated Press menunjukkan bahwa, setahun sebelumnya, pakar militer AS menduga kelemahan itu datang dari sistem pasokan oksigen untuk F-22. Angkatan Udara kemudian menuding penyebabnya adalah kelemahan katup di rompi tekanan pilot. Katupnya kemudian diganti dan volume udara yang mengalir ke pilot meningkat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Envisioned in the 1990s as crucial to U.S. military superiority in the next century, the sleek, radar-evading F-22 Raptor has finally seen its first combat.
Never used in Afghanistan or Iraq, the Air Force´s newest fighter jet made its combat debut this week, taking part in the second wave of airstrikes over Syria, according to the Pentagon.
Five things to know about the F-22:
1. Its first combat mission involved dropping bombs on an Islamic State group command-and-control building in Raqqa. During a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, Lt. Gen. William Mayville showed before and after slides of the airstrike targets. The after-shot for the F-22 showed a successful mission, with the command-and-control center destroyed.
2. It was developed by Lockheed Martin, with major subcontractors such as Boeing, as a 21st century fighter jet to replace various models of the aging F-15. With its stealth design, the single-seat F-22 was built to evade radar and has twin engines that allow it to fly at faster-than-sound speeds without gas-guzzling afterburners. Production of the first F-22 Raptor started in 1999 and was delivered to Air Force in 2002. The last one was delivered in 2012.
3. The F-22 comes with a hefty price tag. Each costs an average of $190 million. More than 190 F-22 fighter jets were manufactured for the U.S. military, including eight test aircraft.
4. The Raptor program was beset by design and costs overruns. When the F-22 was unveiled in 1997, critics were complaining about the costly program. At the time, the Air Force sought an order of 438 F-22s, at a cost of about $45 billion. That order was scaled back sharply. In 2010, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress he was willing to cut the F-22 program as too expensive. Production was later capped.
5. Safety concerns were the issue in 2011 when the nation´s F-22s were grounded for four months after pilots complained about getting dizzy and encountering a lack of oxygen in the cockpit. Internal documents obtained by The Associated Press show that, years earlier, U.S. military experts suspected flaws in the oxygen-supply system for the F-22. The Air Force later blamed a faulty valve in the pilots´ pressure vests. That valve was replaced and the volume of air flowing to pilots was increased.
