Military & Defense

The F-22 May Simply Be Too Much For Pilots To Handle

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attached imageProblems have plagued the F-22 Raptor since its inception.

Flaking, toxic stealth coating with equally toxic glue. International dateline software glitches. Pilots nearly passing out from lack of oxygen and the feared "Raptor Cough."

So the jet went through a battery of extensive tests, over many years, only for one general to suggest something completely unrelated to the configuration of the plane's innards: Maybe human beings just weren't physiologically equipped to max out the attributes of this total sky carnivore.

The F-22 was America's first success in developing a 5th Generation fighter jet.

F-22 Raptor
Jeremy Locke via U.S. Air Force

The jet was the first of its kind referred to as 'supermaneuverable.'

F-22 Raptor
Jeremy Locke via U.S. Air Force

Like a spaceship in the sky; toasting competition with two Pratt and Whitney 119 Turbofan engines, allowing for an unprecedented turning radius to speed ratio.

F-22 Raptor
Jeremy Locke via U.S. Air Force

True story: The Air Force ordered 381. Total Raptors built: 187. And for good reason — they were a total waste of money.

F-22 Raptor
Bennie J. Davis via U.S. Air Force

Why? Because by the time Russia and China got around to the development phases of their 5th Gen jets, the U.S. was already working on the F-35.

F-22 Raptor
via WikimediaCommons

Which means that from 2003 to 2011, there were literally no foreign counterparts willing to take on the F-22.

F-22 Raptor
Bennie J. Davis via U.S. Air Force

Like the prettiest girl in the room, no one had the guts to ask her to dance.

F-22 Raptor
Jeremy Locke via U.S. Air Force

Now there were problems with the F-22, sure, but a machine so precise can't help but fall victim to imprecise human hands.

F-22 Raptor
Bennie J. Davis via U.S. Air Force

Seeking to cut costs, ejection seats were old. Bad glue caused flaking of toxic stealth coating. Oxygenation systems caught flak again and again.

F-22 Raptor
Bennie J. Davis via U.S. Air Force

Finally, On 19 September 2012, after years of costly dissections, USAF General Gilmary M. Hostage III said the problems were not about hardware, but the 'human physiology' of the pilots.

F-22 Raptor
Bennie J. Davis via U.S. Air Force

Pilots would need to undergo special training to learn how to properly breathe while handling the F-22's 'supermaneuverability' under high g-forces.

F-22 Raptor
via WikimediaCommons

International demand for a fighter has never been so high — and for good reason, the U.S. government has put an embargo on the F-22's sale.

F-22 Raptor
Bennie J. Davis via U.S. Air Force

She would largely exist in the dual shadows of a limited combat role and all the talk about her replacement, the F-35.

F-22 Raptor
Bennie J. Davis via U.S. Air Force

Combat was limited though for aforementioned reasons — she had no competition. So the bird served more as a deterrent than anything else (which is just as good).

F-22 Raptor
Bennie J. Davis via U.S. Air Force

Deterrent or not, the F-22 could fight. Though mostly outfitted with air superiority weapons, she could also carry bunker busters and guided munitions.

F-22 Raptor
via WikimediaCommons

The F-22 also came in several flavors, finding service in six different Air Force Commands, flying over several different regions and terrains.

F-22 Raptor
via WikimediaCommons

Just the presence of F-22s in the UAE, 200 miles from Iran, prompted a startled response from Iran's Defence Minister.

F-22 Raptor
via WikimediaCommons

Startled as he should have been: The bunker-busting version of the F-22 put muscle behind Washington's nuclear inspection talks.

F-22 Raptor
via WikimediaCommons

Though the F-22 never met a foe in the sky, the former Air Marshall and Australian Defense Force Chief called it 'the most outstanding fighter plane ever built.'

F-22 Raptor
via WikimediaCommons

And because she never has scored a kill in the sky, it's our opinion the F-22 Raptor embodied this Sun Tzu quote: 'Make your enemies surrender without a fight.'

F-22 Raptor
via WikimediaCommons

You've seen the beautiful sky carnivore in flight ...

President Obama and Vice President Biden in limo
via Wikimedia Commons

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Robert Johnson was Business Insider's senior correspondent and the originating editor of Business Insider's military-and-defense section. A former US Army noncommissioned officer, Johnson enlisted in the Army before 9/11, was injured, and spent his final two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It was his experience at Walter Reed in 2004 and 2005 that brought him to journalism. Johnson attended the University of Missouri and New York University.
Geoffrey Ingersoll graduated from Penn State with an English degree in 2004. He then quickly achieved becoming a Teach For America reject, and enlisted in the Marines instead.He served honorably from 2005 to 2009, and ended active service as an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran.He attended New York University's graduate j-school, studying documentary film and long-form reporting.Geoffrey has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, the Korean DMZ, and New Jersey.His totally unupdated personal blog and portfolio can be found at Forever Squared.