F/A-22 support partnerships aim for benchmarks

Posted on: Dec. 5th, 2005 || Source: aimpoints.hq.af.mil | E-mail Article | Print Article

F/A-22 support partnerships aim for benchmarks

A unique maintenance support program, involving two private/public partnerships between airframe and engine OEMs, and some of the government's largest air logistics centers, is well underway as the U.S. Air Force continues to build up its fleet of soon-to-be combat-ready F/A-22 Raptors. These partnerships are unprecedented according to representatives of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., the airframe prime contractor; and Pratt & Whitney, the vendor of the 36,000-pound thrust F119-PW-100 engines that power the twinjet fighter.

The F/A-22, which is expected to be declared combat-ready in December, was developed as a fighter/attack aircraft, designed to guarantee air superiority in the 21st century. But with unparalleled pressures on defense spending, selling the F/A-22 also mandated a cost-efficient way to support it. To do that, the airframe and engine OEMs realized that they would have to assume a greater role in the overall maintenance management process. With the first F/A-22s now flying for a combat operational squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va., the first of the public/private partnerships - between Pratt & Whitney and the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (ALC) at Tinker Air Force Base - is fully operational and certified by the Air Force.

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