F-22 Raptor: 5 Reasons This Is the Best Fighter on Earth

The US Air Force’s F-22 Raptor is the best fighter in the world today. Period.

And that’s a great thing for America. In fact, the Air Force wisely decided not to sell it to our allies to protect the Raptor’s secret technology from falling into our enemies’ hands.

F-22 Raptor, Explained

The Boeing F-22 Raptor is an American fifth-generation twin-engine, all-weather, supersonic stealth fighter aircraft. It is part of the Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program.

The F-22 was designed as an air superiority fighter but incorporates ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence capabilities. It can reach speeds of Mach 2 and has a range of 1,600 miles.

The Raptor remains the world’s premier air-dominance fighter due to its unmatched aerial maneuverability, supercruise speeds, advanced stealth, and cutting-edge radar and sensor systems.

F-22 Raptor: 5 Reasons Why This Is the Best Fighter on Earth

Stealth:

The F-22’s unique design significantly reduces its radar cross-section, making it extremely difficult to detect on radar, allowing it to “disappear” from enemy sensors.

The aircraft’s designers were meticulous in lowering the F-22’s radar cross section (RCS) without compromising the speed and maneuverability needed to be a lethal combat aircraft.

Planform and panel edges have continuous curvature of the surfaces to minimize the aircraft’s radar cross-section.Measures to reduce RCS include airframe shaping such as alignment of edges and continuous curvature of surfaces, internal weapons bay, fixed-geometry serpentine inlets and curved vanes that prevent line-of-sight of the engine fan faces and turbines from any exterior view, use of radar-absorbent material (RAM), and attention to detail such as hinges and pilot helmets that could provide a radar return.

Maneuverability

The outstanding thrust-to-weight ratio enables the F-22 to perform tight turns and complex maneuvers, giving it an advantage in close-range dogfights. The F-22 Raptor’s dual Pratt and Whitney F119 augmented turbofan engines allow the F-22’s thrust-to-weight ratio to 1.25 in full afterburner.

The Raptor’s aerodynamics, relaxed stability, and powerful thrust-vectoring engines give it outstanding maneuverability and energy. With full internal fuel, it can perform 9-g maneuvers at takeoff gross weight.

Supercruise:

The F-22 can fly at supersonic speeds without needing afterburners, providing both speed and fuel efficiency in combat situations. Its ability to supercruise or sustain supersonic flight without using afterburners allows it to intercept targets that afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach.

She can supercruise at Mach 1.76 for as long as the fuel lasts. Although her top speed of Mach 2.2 (about 1,500 mph) isn’t the fastest aircraft, the Raptor is unmatched in terms of stealth, avionics, and maneuverability.

Advanced Avionics:

Sophisticated onboard computer systems and sensor fusion allow pilots to identify and engage multiple targets with exceptional situational awareness quickly.

The F-22’s avionics are a complex system of sensors, antennas, and software that work together to provide the pilot with situational awareness.

They are highly integrated and modular, which makes them more reliable, affordable, and available.

The F-22’s avionics fuse data from multiple sensors to help the pilot track, identify, and shoot down threats and provide 360° situational awareness, giving the pilot an advantage over enemies.

Internal Weapon Bay:

Weapons are carried within the aircraft’s fuselage, further enhancing its stealth profile by eliminating external weapon pylons.

The F-22 has three internal weapons bays: a large central bay on the bottom of the fuselage and two smaller bays on the sides of the fuselage, aft of the engine inlets. Behind each side bay is a small bay for countermeasures such as flares.

Missile launches require the bay doors to be open for less than a second, during which pneumatic or hydraulic arms push missiles clear of the aircraft; this is to reduce vulnerability to detection and to deploy missiles during high-speed flight.

The Air Force has more upgrades planned with the AIM-9X and AIM-120D missile enhancements and advanced AESA radar, which will ensure that it will be a superior aircraft for many years to come.

About the Author:

Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.