Defense

Raptors to be retrofitted

The U.S. Air Force on Tuesday awarded Lockheed Martin Corp a contract to retrofit 40 F-22 fighter aircraft with an automatic backup oxygen supply after some pil...

Federal News Radio Custom Media@WTOPWFEDcustom

June 7, 2012 11:52 am

< a min read

The U.S. Air Force on Tuesday awarded Lockheed Martin Corp a contract to retrofit 40 F-22 fighter aircraft with an automatic backup oxygen supply after some pilots experienced oxygen deprivation when flying the supersonic plane. Reuters reports the contract is worth $19 million, runs through April 2013, and includes retrofitting 10 spare aircraft. Currently oxygen supply requires manual activation by the F-22 Raptor pilot.