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(Video) The Truth About the F-22 Raptor - It's Still the Best -
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Mission
The F-22 Raptor is combination of stealth, supercruise, maneuverability, andintegrated avionics, coupled with improved supportability, represents anexponential leap in warfighting capabilities. The Raptor performs bothair-to-air and air-to-ground missions allowing full realization ofoperational concepts vital to the 21st century Air Force.
The F-22, a critical component of the Global Strike Task Force, is designed to project air dominance, rapidly and at great distances and defeat threats attempting to deny access to our nation's Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The F-22 cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft.
Features
A combination of sensor capability, integrated avionics, situational awareness, and weapons provides first-kill opportunity against threats. The F-22 possesses a sophisticated sensor suite allowing the pilot to track, identify, shoot and kill air-to-air threats before being detected. Significant advances in cockpit design and sensor fusion improve the pilot's situational awareness. In the air-to-air configuration the Raptor carries six AIM-120 AMRAAMs and two AIM-9 Sidewinders.
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The F-22 has a significant capability to attack surface targets. In the air-to-ground configuration the aircraft can carry two 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions internally and will use on-board avionics for navigation and weapons delivery support. In the future air-to-ground capability will be enhanced with the addition of an upgraded radar and up to eight small diameter bombs. The Raptor will also carry two AIM-120s and two AIM-9s in the air-to-ground configuration.
Advances in low-observable technologies provide significantly improved survivability and lethality against air-to-air and surface-to-air threats. The F-22 brings stealth into the day, enabling it not only to protect itself but other assets.
The F-22 engines produce more thrust than any current fighter engine. The combination of sleek aerodynamic design and increased thrust allows the F-22 to cruise at supersonic airspeeds (greater than 1.5 Mach) without using afterburner -- a characteristic known as supercruise. Supercruise greatly expands the F-22 's operating envelope in both speed and range over current fighters, which must use fuel-consuming afterburner to operate at supersonic speeds.
The sophisticated F-22 aerodesign, advanced flight controls, thrust vectoring, and high thrust-to-weight ratio provide the capability to outmaneuver all current and projected aircraft. The F-22 design has been extensively tested and refined aerodynamically during the development process.
The F-22's characteristics provide a synergistic effect ensuring F-22A lethality against all advanced air threats. The combination of stealth, integrated avionics and supercruise drastically shrinks surface-to-air missile engagement envelopes and minimizes enemy capabilities to track and engage the F-22. The combination of reduced observability and supercruise accentuates the advantage of surprise in a tactical environment.
The F-22 will have better reliability and maintainability than any fighter aircraft in history. Increased F-22 reliability and maintainability pays off in less manpower required to fix the aircraft and the ability to operate more efficiently.
Background
The Advanced Tactical Fighter entered the Demonstration and Validation phase in 1986. The prototype aircraft (YF-22 and YF-23) both completed their first flights in late 1990. Ultimately the YF-22 was selected as best of the two and the engineering and manufacturing development effort began in 1991 with development contracts to Lockheed/Boeing (airframe) and Pratt & Whitney (engines). EMD included extensive subsystem and system testing as well as flight testing with nine aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The first EMD flight was in 1997 and at the completion of its flight test life this aircraft was used for live-fire testing.
The program received approval to enter low rate initial production in 2001. Initial operational and test evaluation by the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center was successfully completed in 2004. Based on maturity of design and other factors the program received approval for full rate production in 2005. Air Education and Training Command, Air Combat Command and Pacific Air Forces are the primary Air Force organizations flying the F-22. The aircraft designation was the F/A-22 for a short time before being renamed F-22A in December 2005.
General characteristics
Primary function: air dominance, multi-role fighter
Contractor: Lockheed-Martin, Boeing
Power plant: two Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan engines with afterburners and two-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzles.
Thrust: 35,000-pound class (each engine)
Wingspan: 44 feet, 6 inches (13.6 meters)
Length: 62 feet, 1 inch (18.9 meters)
Height: 16 feet, 8 inches (5.1 meters)
Weight: 43,340 pounds (19,700 kilograms)
Maximum takeoff weight: 83,500 pounds (38,000 kilograms)
Fuel capacity: internal: 18,000 pounds (8,200 kilograms); with 2 external wing fuel tanks: 26,000 pounds (11,900 kilograms)
Payload: same as armament air-to-air or air-to-ground loadouts; with or without two external wing fuel tanks.
Speed: mach two class with supercruise capability
Range: more than 1,850 miles ferry range with two external wing fuel tanks (1,600 nautical miles)
Ceiling: above 50,000 feet (15 kilometers)
Armament: one M61A2 20-millimeter cannon with 480 rounds, internal side weapon bays carriage of two AIM-9 infrared (heat seeking) air-to-air missiles and internal main weapon bays carriage of six AIM-120 radar-guided air-to-air missiles (air-to-air loadout) or two 1,000-pound GBU-32 JDAMs and two AIM-120 radar-guided air-to-air missiles (air-to-ground loadout)
Crew: one
Unit cost: $143 million
Initial operating capability: December 2005
Inventory: total force, 183
(Current as of August 2022)
Point of Contact
Air Combat Command, Public Affairs Office; 115 Thompson St., Suite 210; Langley AFB, VA 23665-1987; DSN 574-5007 or 757-764-5007; e-mail: accpa.operations@us.af.mil
FAQs
Are F-22 Raptors still in use? ›
Despite the Air Force's intention to retire the Raptor within the coming decade, the aircraft is expected to remain in service until its replacement — the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter — comes online.
Is the F-22 Raptor better than the F-35? ›The F-22 Raptor is the most powerful air superiority fighter in the world, while the F-35 is probably the most advanced multirole fighter right now.
Why is F-22 retired? ›The USAF wants to retire the F-22 Raptor beginning around 2030 mainly due to two reasons: the F-22's high operating costs, and the F-22's obsolescence in a number of areas, with the latter being the primary reason. As already reported, Speaking during the McAleese FY2022 Defense Programs Conference Gen.
Can any plane beat the F-22? ›The F-22 cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft. A combination of sensor capability, integrated avionics, situational awareness, and weapons provides first-kill opportunity against threats.
Has an F-22 ever crashed? ›The F-22 fleet, which now numbers 182 aircraft, has experienced 32 “Class A” mishaps and 50 “Class B” accidents over the past 21 years. A Class A accident involves a fatality, loss of the aircraft, or more than $2.5 million in damage.
When was the F-22 Raptor discontinued? ›The US stopped building the F-22 in 2011 because the need for advanced dogfighters seemed less pressing. Demand for highly capable aircraft is growing, but restarting production of the F-22 after a decade just isn't practical.
What replaced the F-22 Raptor? ›The Air Force plans to field a piloted sixth-generation fighter and multiple uncrewed “collaborative combat aircraft” as part of its Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems that will ultimately replace the F-22 Raptor.
How many F-22 Raptors does us have? ›That meant that, after you remove the jets dedicated to training and test, more than 400 operational F-15s that were ready to fight the Soviet Union at any given time. Today, the Air Force has 186 F-22As, but subtracting out those used for training or for testing new systems leaves just operational 142 fighters.
When did they stop making F-22? ›However, the $143 million price tag per aircraft, along with the current state of the economy and changes in the military requirements for post Cold-War challenges, lead government officials to the decision to officially cease production of the F-22 in 2009.