In early February, the Americans moved four fifth-generation F-22 Raptor fighters from their base in Germany to the Polish airbase Podwiz, where a Polish Air Force special operations squadron is already stationed, to "deter" Russia. Not so long ago it became known that at the airfield Spangdalem in Germany, these planes performed purely "decorative" functions, making rare flights only on holidays.
Formally F-22 are still in the service of the U.S. Air Force, but of the constructed 195 planes only a small fraction is able to take off - less than 40 machines. These interesting figures became known after the crash of one of the F-22s in May 2020 when the fighter aircraft considered the best in the world (according to the Americans) crashed during a training flight.
The cause of the accident, as it turned out, was a routine washing of the Raptor during routine maintenance carried out a little earlier. Interestingly, the US air command did not even create a special commission to investigate the incident.
The U.S. Air Force lost another F-22 the following year 2021. At the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the aircraft caught fire as it was preparing to take off. It is believed that the cause was due to errors during maintenance of the aircraft, which resulted in the displacement of the auxiliary power unit output valve.
Let us explain that the auxiliary power unit (APU) is designed to supply power and compressed air to the aircraft's systems before the main engines start, so that it can, in fact, start these engines independently, without using ground power from the airfield systems.
"The exhaust pipe of the unit is supposed to vent the hot gases, but in all Raptors this small detail has been shown to be originally designed in error, which in certain situations can cause the aircraft to catch fire.
F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft performance
Some American analysts think that this defect and not the notorious "secrecy" was the reason that it was decided not to sell F-22 for export.
Moreover, now the USA faces an extreme shortage of engines for the Raptors, which makes the command transfer even training machines to the combat structure. Recall that production of F-22 Raptor was discontinued in 2012. In 2016, the U.S. Congress considered the issue of resuming fighter production, but the project was ultimately rejected.
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