I do not know the specifics on the F22, but generally speaking oxygen systems are not particularly sophisticated.
I have mixed feeling on the Raptor. On the one hand I've seen/read where F22's are killing F15's and F16's 1/2 dozen and more at a time in training mock dog fights. That is a pretty significant advantage. Whether it's worth the cost of a dozen times more, is debatable. Should we ever go to war with another major industrialized country we'll need everyone of them. BUT, who is that going to be?
Not sure if you watched the video I posted, but thats precisely what makes the whole thing so troubling, you would think the military would be able to sort out the problem pretty easily.... Who knows, maybe these guys all have it in their mind that there is something defective, and they are all just suffering from the placebo effect.... either way you would think the military would be able to fix this problem, without telling these guys to go in the air and just keep flying until they can find a fix.....
The F-22 is just too awesome for human pilots to handle. It's like the bad ass GRX car in the Speed Racer episode that could be driven only after the driver was sprayed in the face with a potion that allowed him to handle the GRX's super speed. The negative side effect was that the potion caused thirst and after the driver drank water he became afraid of even pedestrian speeds. The situation with the F-22 may simply be a case of technology exceeding human capability.
I just watched the video. The oxygen system is more "complex" than most I'm familiar or have experience with. Rather than the usual and rather simple oxygen tank with pressurized oxygen they're using an oxygen generator on engine bleed air. I assume for reasons to do with "pressure breathing" at very high altitudes. I'm guessing a bit here, but I assume they went this route because of reduced weight, oxygen bottles are heavy, and less service is required during turn-arounds. The Air Force, like most bureaucracies, worries too much about politics and "embarrassments" when they should be worried about just finding and fixing the problem. The Challenger disaster is a good example.
that is the point. since there is no military equal in the world i would say a long time. we should build military hardware to counter any real threat. we already have 5 times overkill with the fighter jets we have. now if some other country, like china, ever builds something that could threaten us we could counter that threat but for now and the forseeable future there is no credible threat that we cant more than handle with the hardware we have now. we still maintain 3 ways to destroy the soviet union, a country that does not exist any more.
Dude its like you didn't even read my posts.. just because we haven't fought another capable opponent in recent history doesn't mean we shouldn't be prepared. That was my point. Also we don't have 5 times overkill with our current fighters, u keep exaggerating. Other nations have the same old ass fighters that we do, and many are designing next gen stuff NOW. Fighters are extremely important for defense, just look at Israel for example. There is so much other shit that needs to be cut out of the federal budget that this shouldn't even bear consideration at this point. I don't know anything about oxygen systems, and this is the first I've heard about pilots not wanting to fly them. If the F-22 is in fact faulty then sure that would change my opinion on this specific aircraft (assuming it couldn't be fixed).
Most likely it can be fixed, they just have to figure out what's wrong first. Mechanical or electrical issues that are difficult to diagnose are actually pretty common.
what capable opponent? none exist. you mean like the b1 bomber? we built them to deter russia right at the end of the need for heavy bomber era and have never needed them or really used them. the old b52s still do the heavy work even in iraq. still we maintain 3 b1 bomber bases in the us at huge expense just incase we need to bomb russia. one of them is in my back yard. why do we need a b1 bomber base in the middle of south dakota? you simply cant waste this kind of money preparing for the last war. its like a lawn service going out and buying a fleet of semi trucks to haul grass to the landfill when he has no problem getting the job done with pickup trucks.