Climate Change May Have Just Destroyed 10% Of Our F-22 Fighters

The F-22 and the F-35 are the backbone of America's fighter aircraft capabilities. Imagine if the United States was attacked by an external force and nearly 10% of our total number of F-22 fighter planes were destroyed by that enemy. That would be a story.

In fact, it actually happened just last week when Hurricane Michael devastated Tyndall Air Force base near Panama City, Florida. Reports indicate that 17 F22-Raptors were damaged or destroyed by the hurricane. These are probably all training aircraft or could not be moved because of maintenance or safety problems. Any combat-ready F-22s were presumably moved off-base before the storm hit. But, even so, those 17 planes represent about 10% of the entire US F-22 fleet. Each plane costs at least $140 million.

Under President Obama, climate change rose to be considered one of the primary dangers facing the US in the coming years. Trump has reversed that stance, dropping climate change from the National Security Strategy. But the destruction of these F-22s shows that climate change is real. The military agrees. The scientists agree and believe we have just over a decade to forestall its most catastrophic effects. But the Republican party, beholden to the money provided by the fossil fuel industry, will ignore the generals and the scientists, while Donald Trump declares "Something's changing and it will change back again". Not even the destruction of 10% of our F-22 force will change their views.