AWARD NOMINEE EDWARDS TEAM TOP PERFORMER.

Byline: Daily News

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - The Air Force chief of staff has nominated the F/A-22 Combined Test Force at Edwards for the National Aeronautic Association's 2005 Robert J. Collier Trophy.

The trophy is awarded annually for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and aircraft or spacecraft safety.

``Over the past year, the F-22 CTF has done some truly significant things to bring the F/A-22 to initial operational capability at Langley (Air Force Base, Va.),'' said Lt. Col. Ray Toth, F/A-22 Combined Test Force and 411th Flight Test Squadron commander.

One of the main reasons for the award nomination, Toth said, is the reaction the men and women had to an incident in 2004 that caused the complete dismantling and rebuilding of two F/A-22 test aircraft.

During a flight test in late 2004, the primary F/A-22 test aircraft went through the jet wake of another aircraft, and the flight-control computers put the aircraft to G-force levels engineers had not anticipated it would reach, he said.

The maintenance included taking off the wings and completely removing the weapons bay doors, the rudders and the vertical and horizontal tails, and together with the test force instrumentation crews completely rewiring the airplane, Toth said. The planes were flying again in about eight months.

``The (Combined Test Force) essentially took two aircraft and did depot- level maintenance,'' he said. ``Our maintainers did amazing work to bring two airplanes up to a condition where we could continue flight-test work to be able to give Langley pilots, basically the operators, a full envelope for the aircraft.''

The test force also cleared the aircraft to use the AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile, performed the first supersonic drop of a joint direct-attack munition from an internal weapons bay and completed handling quality tests for the external fuel tank modifications to the aircraft.

The external tank lets a jet fly longer around a combat area in case it is needed by soldiers on the ground to attack an enemy target.

The Air Force in December announced that the F/A-22 Raptor fighter was ready for combat combat service. The jet was granted initial operational capability. That means testing has indicated its capability for combat, and Air Force personnel are properly trained and equipped to maintain and use it.

The first of the combat-ready fighters are with the 27th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

Although the fighters are assembled in Georgia, parts of the aircraft are manufactured by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Palmdale. Hundreds work on the plane in Palmdale and on the test force at Edwards.

Lockheed Martin Corp. in November was awarded a $2.9 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to produce 24 more of the fighters, increasing the planned total to 107. More than 60 have been built so far.

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