F-22 på vei mot sidelinjen.... Defense News

 

F-22 cut from US Air Force data-sharing prototype

By Colin Demarest

 Jan 18, 03:28 PM

F-22 Raptors assigned to the 1st Fighter Wing arrive at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, in England, Oct. 5, 2018. (Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew/U.S. Air Force)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force will drop the F-22 from a communications prototyping effort closely tied to its Advanced Battle Management System, as the service works to pare down inventory of the aging aircraft.

The exclusion of the F-22 from the so-called ABMS Capability Release 1, meant to enable the secure transfer of data between aircraft and systems on the ground, was included in an analysis published this month by the Government Accountability Office.

The federal watchdog examined the Air Force’s contributions to the Pentagon’s connect-everything campaign, or Joint All-Domain Command and Control, at the behest of Congress, which has in the past slashed funding.

Initially, Capability Release 1 was designed to link and provide real-time sensor feedback to KC-46 refueling tankers, F-35s and F-22s, and separate command-and-control systems. The fifth-generation fighters cannot share information with one another, the GAO noted, due to differences in communications design and development.

Air Force officials told the watchdog the decision to dismiss the F-22 from preliminary Capability Release 1 work stems from its “reduced role in the future force structure,” among other factors. The combined fiscal 2023 budget request for the Air and Space forces, some $194 billion, called for cutting 150 aircraft, including older A-10s, KC-135s and F-22s.