F-22A Took Long Road to Intital Operational Capability

Posted on: Dec. 28th, 2005 || Source: military.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

EDWARDS Air Force BASE, Calif. - With the F-22A Raptor's initial operational capability declaration Dec. 15 came the capstone of a process that began 76 months earlier, in August 1997, when a C-5 Galaxy landed here and taxied down the expansive "Contractor's Row" with several crates and boxes in its cargo bay to what isnow known as the F-22A Combined Test Force.

Far from being just boxes of materiel or the world's largest model kit, this cargo, once assembled by the men and women of the F-22 test force, became the first of what is now officially the air superiority fighter providing air dominance for the Joint Force, the F-22A aircraft called "Raptor 1."

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