Fighter Jets

March 25 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Air Force said an F-22A fighter jet crashed today during a test mission in California, the first such accident since the newest stealth aircraft became fully operational in 2007.

The pilot, whose condition is unknown, was the only person on board, the Air Force said in an e-mailed statement sent by spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Karen Platt. The plane was from Edwards Air Force Base in California and crashed about 35 miles northeast of the base at 10 a.m. local time.

An F-22 Raptor last crashed in December 2004 during testing, and the pilot ejected safely while the aircraft was destroyed, Platt said. The F-22 began initial operations in 2005 and achieved full operational capability in 2007. The U.S. is slated to buy 183 Raptors, made by Lockheed Martin Corp., and U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to decide by next month whether to purchase more.

“The timing isn’t great for the aircraft’s advocates, but I can’t imagine one crash being an effective argument against additional procurement,” Richard Aboulafia, analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia, said in an interview. “I can’t think of a modern-generation fighter that hasn’t crashed either in operational use or in testing.”

Jeff Adams, spokesman for Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, Maryland, referred questions to the Air Force.

Lockheed rose 39 cents to $68.48 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and has lost 33 percent in the past 12 months.

Test Mission

Air Force spokesman Vince King said it wasn’t immediately known what type of “test” mission the jet was on.

“Aircraft that fly at Edwards Air Force Base fly test missions to evaluate everything from airframe structures to propulsion and avionics and electronic warfare, all with aim of ensuring weapons systems are suitable for their intended combat missions,” King said.

The F-22 is the most expensive aircraft in U.S. history at $354 million each in inflation-adjusted dollars that amortize 20 years of research and development. Conceived in the early 1980s as a radar-evading, advanced dogfighter to take on the Soviet Air Force, the F-22 was recast in the early 1990s to engage ground targets as well.

Tags: air defence, Air Force, aircraft, f-22, Fighter Jet, Fighter Jets, United States Of America, USAF