Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Don Hoffman said during a Feb. 27 interview in Orlando (see above) that he has a team looking at ways that the earliest F-22s—some of which go back to the late 1990s—can have their service lives extended when they reach their planned life expectancy in about ten years. It won’t be easy. Unlike sheet metal airplanes like the F-15 and F-16, the F-22 is almost all plastic and composites in the wings and external fuselage. It’s not known yet how easy it will be to swap out parts of the structure.
The Guardians of the 11th Space Warning Squadron were honored as the top U.S. Space Force unit for 2024 for their role in thwarting Iranian missile barrages last year.