Posted on 06/13/2006 10:15:56 AM PDT by MARKUSPRIME
I would think it's not classified because it's basic, for the F-22, capabilities, but nothing technical. Any enemy or potential enemy knowing this information about the F-22 doesn't make them able to prevent it or do anything about it. There is nothing they could do to prevent this. There's no where to hide from that.
Yeah and there are so many similarities between the 22 and 35, you can tell they're related. More like siblings than cousins. :) Though the F-35 is a single engine job and I wonder if it will be as versitile as the 22 is. The 22 seems like the replacement for the F-15, a heavy longer range job, and the F-35 a replacement for the F-16, shorter range, maybe more maneuverable in tight fight jobs. That's what it seems like anyway. With two engines, I would imagine the F-22 can carry ordinance that the F-35 can't carry. Right?
The F-22 can supercruise at Mach 1.72, and has a top speed of Mach 2.42 (though it may actually go faster).
Congress currently plans to buy only about 165 F-22s, down dramatically from the 750 originally envisioned.
The F-22 is designed to do far more than take out enemy radar installations, though that would indeed be one of its strong points. It routinely outfights F-15s at a 5-1 ratio during combat exercises.
As others have pointed out, this test indicates that the F-22 will be able to take out targets while traveling at altitudes and velocitites that will make the airplane extremely difficult to acquire, let alone engage.
If only the Raptors could be employed against the libs and mullahs....enemies foreign and domestic......
I was just imagining Mach 1.5 and 50K feet!
(Great minds drift alike? ;))
This one happened to be attached to a 1,000 lb bomb. The JDAM that whacked Zarkman was on a 500 lb casing.
The impressive aspect of this hot to me was that it was done at well above the speed of sound (Mach 1.5), from an altitute of 9 1/2 miles, and at a stand-off distance of 24 miles. Anyone near the target would have had no idea that any aircraft was anywhere in the vicinity. Just...BOOM!
Thank you for the specifics you included in your post Senator. I was almost ready to Google for more info.
Proof of the - Raptor/JDAM system.
The JDAM guidance package(s) can go on smaller than 1,000 lb bomb casings. The JDAM that whacked Zarky was a 500-pounder.
Spot on right post. Love your tagline. For a second, I thought that was me. My thoughts EXACTLY!!! Bravo. :)
Come to think of it, starting at 9.5 mile altitude and Mach 1.5 velocity, that bomb would have had a heck of a lot of kinetic energy. Even a solid concrete bomb body (no warhead) launched under those conditions would pack a huge wallop!
Exactly, your post is right on. And also, something that is not talked about much, the F-22 can carry good anti-ship weapons also, so a few of them, flying in formation at night, over open water, could take out a large task force of enemy naval vesels, like say, CHINESE SHIPS, with one pass, and the chinese wouldn't even get a shot off at the Raptors, they'd just be on fire and sinking. That's why I'd love to see a squadron of Raptors on each Nimitz carrier, or at least a flight of six. That would give each carrier arm a cabability of all weather radar invisible fighters who are superior to any air opposition they might face, while also taking on the mission of being anti-ship bombers, currently being carried by the F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets, and previously the A-6E Intruder. The F-22 could sure be a powerfully potent anti-ship weapon also, and were we to base a couple squadrons of those in Taiwan, I sure wouldn't want to be on any Chinese fleet that attempted an invasion. The 22 can be an amazing deterrant just because of the fact it is so far advanced over anything else, and letting the enemy know that is a great thing.
ROFL! Birds eye view. Looks like you have to hang on to your hat anyway.
It's a nice theory and it may work. On the other hand, I recently read an article about a Yugoslavian air defense commander who was able to hide his radars and keep them operating during our bombing -- he wasn't hit by us, and his unit shot down two of our planes. That's not bad for equipment from the 1960's. So I hope our guys don't get too cocky.
(That article was in eDefense online, which has now gone out of business, so the link I have is no longer any good, unfortunately.)
Ummmmm...the GAU-8 is 30mm...
You echo my amazement. All they would hear would be, what...a "whoosh" just before impact?
I was up in Mojave last Wednesday and the sky was full of planes flying around. I looked on the website and Test Pilot School was in session.
That's funny. "WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!! YEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAA!!! Heheheh.
That's a good point, but that is when the 22 would/could act in the capacity of a "Wild Weasle" like the EA-6B prowlers did in Vietnam and Iraq the first time. Letting themselves be seen, and then pasting radar sites with HARMS or other Anti-Radar munitions. The F-22 would be even more ideal for that, since they could allow themselve to be visible when they want to, to bait SAM sites into "painting" them, and then once they do that, fire a "fire and forget" HARM on them, which doesn't have to have active radar now a days, they'll home and hit the target even when the radar is turned back off, and then go stealthy, change direction, speed, and altitude, and become stealthy again, and the missile would go stupid and never come close to the Raptor. That's very possible, and would be hard for SAM sites or vehicles to get around. The F-22 could also fly cover for more visable bombers and fighter strike aircraft, and destroy radar sites soon as they go active before they can even get a shot off. I see that as being very doable. It's so versitile just about anything is possible.
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