EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. One of the Air Force's top-of-the-line F-22 fighter jets crashed Wednesday in the high desert of Southern California. There was no immediate word on whether the pilot ejected.

The F-22 Raptor crashed 35 miles northeast of Edwards Air Force Base, Pentagon spokesman Gary Strassburg said. He had no information about the area where the jet crashed.

Rescue crews were en route and the status of the pilot was unknown, said Air Force Maj. David Small at the Pentagon.

Small said the jet, assigned to Edwards' 412th Test Wing, was on a test mission but he did not know its nature.

Call to the base public affairs phone numbers were answered by recording machines.

The radar-evading F-22s each cost $140 million and are designed for air dominance. The warplanes can carry air-to-air missiles but are capable of ground attack as well.

The $65 billion F-22 program is embattled, with some opponents contending that a different warplane under development, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is more versatile and less costly at $80 million per plane.

The U.S. is committed to 183 F-22s, down from the original plan laid out in the 1980s to build 750.

Its prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., says there are 95,000 jobs at 1,000 companies connected to the F-22.

A spokesman for Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin referred all calls about the crash to the Air Force.

Lockheed is trying to convince the Pentagon to buy as many as 20 more F-22s. The military is expected to signal its intentions when the 2010 Defense Department budget is released next month.

The F-22 is able to fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburners. That allows it to reach and stay in a battlespace faster and longer without being easily detected.

The fighter, powered by two Pratt & Whitney engines, is 62 feet long, has a wingspan of 44 1/2 feet and is flown by a single pilot.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090325/ap_on_re_us/f22_crash

PEACE

Hope the pilot is OK.

As the WAFF's trolls Thunder Syndrome grows stronger, signatures get stupider, behaviour weirder...

Let's design a Typhoon shall we Mister Herbst?
Thunder Supports

Well its stealth not alien technology so like every other aircraft it can crash...

Even UFOs crash......


Whoever said winning isn't everything must be a loser...

U miss X-Files,don`t you?! :P

I hope it was a human mistake and not a problem with the aircraft itself.

I hope the pilot is safe.


Mobile airpower

"The enemy dies relaxed," observed a Lockheed Martin manager.

Stealth jet crashes in US desert



A state-of-the-art US air force F-22 fighter has crashed in the desert in southern California, the Pentagon says.

The fate of the pilot was not immediately known after the plane, which was on a test mission, came down near Edwards Air Force Base.

The US air force website lists the F-22 Raptor, which is made by Lockheed Martin, as its newest fighter.

The air force said the jet has "better reliability and maintainability than any fighter aircraft in history".

The F-22 crashed at about 1000 local time (1700 GMT), officials said.

Rescue teams were reported to be on their way to the crash site.

A board of officers will investigate the crash, the air force said.

The $140m (£96m), supersonic F-22 is a so-called fifth generation jet, and arguably the world's most sophisticated fighter.

It is capable of both air-to-air and ground attacks.

But the $65 billion F-22 programme has faced criticism, with opponents saying the jet is too costly and not sufficiently versatile.

The US government is committed to buying 183 F-22s reduced from the original plan laid out in the 1980s to build 750, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The air force said the crash was the second involving an F-22.

In the previous crash, which happened in December 2004 during the aircraft's test period, the pilot ejected safely.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7964577.stm

best wishes to the pilot.... damn that's an expensive crash

_______________________________________________________________







" I don't care if the cat is black or white, just as long as it gets the mice "

Pilot was killed.


The truth is out there - you just may not like hearing it.

RIP ..condolences to the family

_______________________________________________________________







" I don't care if the cat is black or white, just as long as it gets the mice "

world most advanced jet not needs to be shot down, it can predict all probable enemy incomings missiles

and crash itself


to pre-empt the enemy's 'success'

most advanced s jets of amerikunts indeed

congrats

===========================================
I am old Christiankiller
Sorry for offensive to our good religion christian brothers
I am not hating christians

anglozionazikiller

Do you always have to talk like a mental midget?



RIP to the pilot.

Like the pigeons, we shouldn't feed the trolls.

RIP to the pilot.

[IMG][/IMG]

"anglozionazikiller

Do you always have to talk like a mental midget?



RIP to the pilot."


I try to fit in with the WAFF crowd, still most WAFFers find me a little too hard to decipher for I am a notch or two above them even if I were half-asleep.

===========================================
I am old Christiankiller
Sorry for offensive to our good religion christian brothers
I am not hating christians

rest in peace

sorry we couldn't prevent your death even though you have couragesly killed hundred (if not thousand) of enemy combatant in the middleeast.

oh.., don't forget all the civillian you killed in order to destroy the enemy "weapon of mass destruction", now that you are in heaven, you are in a better position (since you can look from above the sky) to help search for the missing WMD...

ai ai soilder, one less muslim and one more ounce of oil make for for a better world..

we need you to regroup under the flag of US or Isreal in heaven immediately, we shall win them all.

roger and out.

I try to fit in with the WAFF crowd, still most WAFFers find me a little too hard to decipher for I am a notch or two above them even if I were half-asleep.


hahahahahaha. cough dragon cough

----------------------------------------

This is not exactly the place to vent your spleens...........


RIP to the pilot

To the MODs; time to put your money where your badge is.

As the WAFF's trolls Thunder Syndrome grows stronger, signatures get stupider, behaviour weirder...

Let's design a Typhoon shall we Mister Herbst?
Thunder Supports

NOW go and compare...

Look at these and see the pattern in leopardus's flaming.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/1253817722/last-1254129737/2+Rafales+crash+in+the+sea

http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/1196975468/Rafale+crash+in+Corr%E8ze

Cet enfoire n'a AUCUN respect, souvenez vous en a l'avenir.

Thunder Supports Rafale
http://rafale.freeforums.org
http://rafale.freeforums.org/rafale-vs-f-16-aerodynamics-compared-t69.html

WAFF syndrome explained:

= A pathological liar is someone who often embellishes his or her stories in a way that he or she believes will impress people.

= In psychology, mythomania (also known as pseudologia fantastica or pathological lying) is a condition involving compulsive lying by a person with no obvious motivation.
http://www.bushywood.com/mythomania.htm