Dina Rasor and Pierre Sprey on the F-22 Problem

Dina Rasor and Pierre Sprey have collaborated on an important and informative piece on the F-22. It expands the publically available thinking about the nature of the toxicity problem facing F-22 pilots, and--just as importantly--it probes the nature of one of the prime suspects for the problem: the F-22's "stealth" coating. Note at the end of the piece: for all the astronomic cost, low sortie rates, and aerodynamic mis-shaping of aircraft those stealth coatings have caused, they bring little meaningful tactical advantage against an enemy who knows how to deal with them. Case in point: not mentioned in the brief but important discussion of radars that see "stealth" aircraft is the antiquated Soviet era radar and SA-3 missile system that was used by the Serbs in the 1999 Kosovo air war to shoot down one "stealthy" F-117, as was widely reported, but also damaged a second F-117 seriously enough that it never flew again in the conflict--giving the F-117 the highest casualty rate of any US aircraft in that conflict.

Consider also, as Rasor and Sprey make clear, the values of a system that places the continued operation of a hardware system above the health, well-being and confidence of the pilots operating it. It literally reminds me of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" when nothing, not even workers' severed body parts, were permitted to stop the sausage machine.

Find the link for the important and Rasor authored piece at Truthout: Pilots as Lab Rats: The Reprehensible Risk-Taking on the F-22 Raptor