F22 Raptor stealth technology broken?

[sao123]

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Updated An engineer formerly employed by Lockheed, maker of the famous F-22 Raptor stealth jet, has mounted a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that Lockheed has supplied the controversial superfighter with "defective" stealth coatings. The claims are sure to add fuel to the fiery debate raging at present in Washington over whether to cease production of the Raptor.


Raptor shocker. Full hires here.

In the lawsuit, filed in US District Court in California, Darrol O Olsen states that between 1995 and 1999 he witnessed Lockheed knowingly use on Raptors "coatings that Lockheed knew were defective". Olsen says that he was "one of the top... low observables engineers in the stealth technology industry", having worked on the original F-117 stealth fighter and at Northrop on the B-2 stealth bomber before joining the F-22 team.

Olsen further alleges that low-quality stealth coatings have not only worsened the radar and infrared visibility of the F-22, but that they have been a factor in dangerous and expensive accidents - as when a piece of coating broke off and was sucked into an F-22 engine last year, causing over a million dollars of damage.

Olsen goes on to say that such "third-party reports" indicate that the Raptor's stealth protection "has not been remedied through the present date". He says that Lockheed "continued to misrepresent the problems with the F-22's coatings through at least October 2004 and likely to the present date".

Next page: Allegations could strengthen Obama's hand in cancelling further Raptor production

could this be the straw that causes obama to get his wish in cancelling the raptor program totally?
this could get interesting.



more details emerge:
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A stealth expert on the F-117 and B-2 programmes intends to file suit against Lockheed Martin later this week for concealing alleged deficiencies with the stealth coatings for the F-22.

The pending lawsuit accuses Lockheed of knowingly providing defective coatings used to reduce the aircraft's radar and visual signatures, and covering up the problem by adding 272kg (600lbs) worth of extra layers.

The lawsuit comes after the Department of Justice declined an opportunity under the Fair Claims Act to take up the case under seal.

Now, Darrol Olsen, who was fired by Lockheed in 1999, has turned to the US District Court in California's central division to seek justice.

Olsen wants to be re-instated with back-pay plus interest since losing his job more than a decade ago, says Samuel Boyd, Olsen's attorney. Olsen also is asking the court to order Lockheed to pay the US government $50 million for each of the 183 F-22's currently ordered, says Boyd. That amount equates roughly to the cost of the allegedly compromised stealth technology on each jet.

Lockheed was not immediately able to comment on the lawsuit.

Olsen began his Lockheed career in 1979 at Skunk Works, where he worked on developing new composite materials for the F-117, according to court documents. Olsen bounced between the F-117 and Northrop's B-2 programme during the 1980s, finally returning to support Northrop's B-2 flight test programme in 1990.

In 1995, Olsen finally joined Lockheed's materials and processes engineering group in Marietta, Georgia, to work on the low observables system for the F-22.

The F-22 requires three layers of coatings to reduce its radar signature, according to Olsen's statements in his case.

A primer seals the surface of the aircraft skin and helps with the adhesion of the next layer. Next, a conductive coating with silver flakes mixed with polyurethane materials is applied to keep radar waves from bouncing back to the emitter source. Finally, a topcoat layer has properties, including metallic materials, to reduce heat, which lowers the risk of radar detection.

"If those coatings are not effective, the other stealth measures of the aircraft's design are negated," the lawsuit says.

Olsen claims he witnessed Lockheed management misleading USAF officials about the quality of the stealth coatings. Olsen's supervisors instructed him not to speak at meetings with USAF officials.

In 1998, Olsen claims he refused to participate in an award ceremony that falsely honoured his team for solving problems he knew still persisted.

Lockheed also schemed to avoid government inspections of the coatings, secretly shipping batches of the stealth materials to the homes, the lawsuit states.

Although Olsen was fired for "failure to follow instructions" in 1999, the lawsuit says, he believes the problems have never been fully addressed.

In March 2008, an F-22 sustained major damage after a small strip of stealth coating inside the engine nacelle peeled off and was ingested by the fan blades of the Pratt & Whitney F119 engine.

In November, John Young, who stepped down in May as under secretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics, told reporters he was concerned about the F-22's stealth, or low observable, maintenance requirements.

"I would highlight in general the maintenance on the airplane is too high," Young said. "They're struggling with some of the LO and other issues, and there's clearly work that needs to be done there to make that airplane both capable and affordable to operate."

 

[rh71]

blizz should fix vanish before they fix stealth.

 

[MotF Bane]

A whistleblower! Was Goosemaster involved?

 

[schmedy]

Originally posted by: rh71
blizz should fix vanish before they fix stealth.

I know I hate when I vanish and I am still targeted, weak, makes arenas tougher.

 

[dougp]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
A whistleblower! Was Goosemaster involved?

We'll never know, the guy probably won't update his thread.

 

[SunnyD]

Bring on the F23!

 

[HannibalX]

It's bullshit. You don't think the US Military tests for these things before they take delivery?

 

[PottedMeat]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Bring on the F23!

I liked the YF23

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23

 

[Gothgar]

that's too bad, cool jet

 

[invidia]

Next page: Allegations could strengthen Obama's hand in cancelling further Raptor production

sounds like blizz is giving up on rogues

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: dougp

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
A whistleblower! Was Goosemaster involved?

We'll never know, the guy probably won't update his thread.

I thought he said in a different thread, or at least implied, that what he did was alert higher-level management about inadequate IT practices.

 

[spacejamz]

just flipped my calender to July....wooaahhh....

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[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: dougp

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
A whistleblower! Was Goosemaster involved?

We'll never know, the guy probably won't update his thread.

I thought he said in a different thread, or at least implied, that what he did was alert higher-level management about inadequate IT practices.

Clearly that's not all that happened

 

[Joemonkey]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: dougp

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
A whistleblower! Was Goosemaster involved?

We'll never know, the guy probably won't update his thread.

I thought he said in a different thread, or at least implied, that what he did was alert higher-level management about inadequate IT practices.

Clearly that's not all that happened

and he got fired anyway

 

[uhohs]

Originally posted by: rh71
blizz should fix vanish before they fix stealth.

lol

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: iFX
It's bullshit. You don't think the US Military tests for these things before they take delivery?

Are you kidding?

When is the last time you heard of the US government (or military) developing something?? They don't. They look to contractors to do the work, and the contractors are the ones supplying the experts and data. In many cases, the government has a third party overseer, but my experience with these places (and these third-party experts) has not been impressive.

You can't ask Lockheed or Raytheon or Boeing or Northrop to oversee the results of their competitors, so you need to go to an independent third-party... and if those "experts" were really experts, they'd likely be working for one of the defense contractors.

 

[OCGuy]

Yes they are tested.

 

[Dacalo]

Why are so many people against F-22? Is it cost prohibitive? Please inform an ignorant here.

 

[Rumpltzer]

BTW, there's good money in whistleblowing!

The nation's largest settlement in a whistle-blower case was resolved just a few months ago. Dude walked away with $27+ million (after like 15 years) of tax payer's money. Note that TRW-Northrop didn't pay anything!

Link

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Dacalo
Why are so many people against F-22? Is it cost prohibitive? Please inform an ignorant here.

Because it is the best in the world, with no competition. Basically the hippies dont think we need to keep advancing and stay on top in air superiority.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Originally posted by: Dacalo
Why are so many people against F-22? Is it cost prohibitive? Please inform an ignorant here.

They are just jealous coz they will never get to fly one...

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Cancel the F22?
If the stealth coating is indeed flawed wouldn't it make more sense to fix it rather than cancel the entire program and develope a whole new fighter?

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome
Cancel the F22?
If the stealth coating is indeed flawed wouldn't it make more sense to fix it rather than cancel the entire program and develope a whole new fighter?

When a fighter hits the public, it is already 10+ years old. There are already more advanced fighters being worked on in the Nevada desert.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome
Cancel the F22?
If the stealth coating is indeed flawed wouldn't it make more sense to fix it rather than cancel the entire program and develope a whole new fighter?

That's not why it's being scaled back. It's just more fuel to the fire.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: OCguy

Originally posted by: Dacalo
Why are so many people against F-22? Is it cost prohibitive? Please inform an ignorant here.

Because it is the best in the world, with no competition. Basically the hippies dont think we need to keep advancing and stay on top in air superiority.

That and its expensive as hell. Oh and various people think manned fighters are on the way out within the next few decades. There's also the JSF which is more versatile in its uses and cheaper, and reasonably close in performance (so its more cost effective). There are a lot of reasons to consider stopping the F-22 program. Personally, I love the F-22, but we've got plenty of problems and so it doesn't bother me for them to consider stopping production/orders.

They aren't cancelling the entire program, we've already taken orders for over a hundred of them and they will be in service for probably 2 decades minimum. Also, I would expect many of the things that have gone into making the F-22 can be fitted to other aircraft (say its targeting system which is possibly the thing that makes the F-22 a true air superiority jet).