F-22 Raptor

The F-22 is the newest Fighter in the Air Forces arsenal. The F-22 has trounced the best opponent that the USAF could muster. Despite its youth as a fighter the current pilots consider it to be nearly as reliable as mature F-15 and F-16 fighters. In the following essay we will cover the F-22 program, weapons, stealth, and avionics. I hope to some day be inside the cockpit of an F-22 as a full fledge fighter pilot in the USAF. The F-22 has been projected to be in services for more than 25 years as an active fighter. Its revolutionary design has been compared to the introduction of the jet engine, correlating aviations directional change to a new branch in design capability.

The F-22 program was faced with many problems to overcome. These problems included reduced defense budgets and fewer fighters in the future. To overcome these problems the F-22s design team established three guidelines for a fighter that would be operational in an uncertain future. First, the F-22 was designed to exploit any and all information. It's designed to gather information from many sources and than compile all that information into a simple picture of the tactical situation for the pilot. This will provide the pilot a huge edge over most of today's fighters. Second, The F-22 was designed to deny the enemy information on its location and what its doing. Thirdly, The F-22 was designed to bring overwhelming lethality to a fight. The US hinted at this during Operation Desert Storm where fewer aircraft using precision munitions, accomplished greater destruction of military targets in a shorter period than in previous American wars. To build an aircraft that would embody all three of these guidelines the engineers turned to computers. One of the design characteristics that make the F-22 so unique is that it has been built around computers. In essence the F-22s growth is in direct correlation to the development of computer technology. The F-22 was also designed to "Super cruise", conventional fighter have been designed to reach speeds above Mach 1 but only to sustain them for short periods of time. The F-22s ability to super cruise allows it to maintain this airspeed for longer periods of time.

For the F-22's primary Air-Air mission it carries six AIM-120C and two AIM-9 missiles. For its Air-Ground role the F-22 will carry two 1,000 pound-class Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), two AIM-120C, and two AIM-9 missiles. With the GPS-guided JDAM the F-22 will also have an adverse weather capability. This allows the raptor to supplement the F-117, which will later be replaced by the Joint Strike Fighter, for Air-Ground missions after air dominance has been achieved. The F-22 was designed around its cargo bay, which plays a huge role in the success of its stealth; For the most part the F-22 is flown "clean". Clean refers to no external attachments. The F-22 does have two basic external configurations. The first includes four 600 gallon fuel tanks with no external weapons, this is used when the raptor is being transported and extra range is needed. The Second includes two 600 gallon fuel tanks and four missiles, this configuration is used after air dominance has been achieved and extra time and fire power are needed for Combat Air Patrol (CAP). The F-22's close-range weapon is the M61A2 20MM cannon. The M61 has proved itself time and time again; it is the U.S. military's close-in weapon of choice dating all the way back to the 50's. The F-104, F-105, F-106, F-111, F-4, B-58 all used the M61 and it is currently being used by the Air Force's F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon, the Navy's F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet. The F-22's Stealth, advanced avionics, and super cruise capabilities will most likely render the M61 unnecessary; However, as war has shown us time and time again at some point the air battle comes down to a dogfight and the M61 gives the pilot a powerful option.

One of the most well known attributes of the F-22 raptor is its stealth capability. Radar works by shooting a beam out with the hope that it