Free Republic

In fact, the F-22 is likely the world’s stealthiest fighter and has a radar cross-section that is many times smaller than the F-35. This is why Air Force watchers often yearn for the sneaky Raptor warbird to be upgraded instead of being retired. The latest upgrade contract will add to the $7.8 billion in spending by 2030 for the F-22, which includes $3.1 billion for research and development and $4.7 billion in acquisition. The F-22 Raptor first flew over 26 years ago, so it is looking for enhancements to maintain its freshness and relevance for the next few decades before...

WASHINGTON — Much attention has been paid to the Air Force’s plans to junk an older group of F-22 Raptor jets, but newer, more combat-capable versions of the stealth fighter are the service’s “highest priority” for a near-term fight, according to a senior official. Speaking at the McAleese Defense Programs conference today, Air Force acquisition boss Andrew Hunter called the F-22 the “foundation” of the service’s airpower amid a larger effort to “reoptimize” for competition with China, noting that the jet will serve a vital role until its successor, the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) platform, comes online. “F-22 is...

The time an F-22 flew right under an F-4 from Iran: The American-made F-22 Raptor recently made headlines for shooting down multiple objects this February, including one Chinese balloon over U.S. airspace. Back in 2013, an Iranian fighter pilot was approaching an American drone in international airspace when a pair of F-22 Raptors flew right beside him. The words uttered by the Raptor pilot was enough to make the Phantom swiftly turn around. Iranian fighters shot at U.S. drones before One year prior to the Raptor incident, a U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was intercepted by...

U.S. F-22 fighter jets have been deployed to the Middle East to counter an increase in "unsafe and unprofessional behavior" by Russia in the region, the military said Wednesday. The Raptor fighter jets of Virginia's 94th Fighter Squadron were deployed from Langley Air Force Base to the Middle East to demonstrate the United States' ability to "re-posture forces and deliver overwhelming power at a moment's notice," U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The announcement comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow's war in Ukraine and follows several instances of near conflict erupting between the...

Small pico balloons typically range between $12 and $180 while an F-22 Raptor is estimated to be around $200 million ... Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter Thursday to criticize Joe Biden for ordering an F-22 fighter jet to shoot down what may have been a hobby club’s science project off the coast of Alaska earlier last week. Cruz, R-Texas, joked that Biden’s decision to authorize the $200 million fighter jet to use a $400,000 missile to shoot down what may have been a $12 balloon serves as a "powerful deterrence" to high school students interested in creating their own...

Biden — We shot down weather balloonsBiden says the three objects that he ordered shot down last week after they let the Chinese spy balloon fly across the country were most likely weather balloons. pic.twitter.com/RvePtENh21— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 16, 2023

Ward gives the details behind the F-22 shootdown of the Chinese Spy Balloon that occurred on February 4, 2023, the first kill by a Raptor in the history of that stealth fighter.

Onlookers swarmed social media with videos of the Chinese spy balloon being “taken out” over the waters in South Carolina Saturday. “Looks like here we see the contrail of the missile and the F-22 that fired the shot at the #ChinaSpyBalloon,” said user Thenewsarea51.

Does it really have the radar signature of a bumble bee? The U.S. Air Force thinks so. I am talking, of course, about the F-22, a $108 billion program that at the time of its development was the most advanced fighter in the world. The F-22, though, is expensive to fly and maintain. It sets the Air Force back $68,000 per hour of flight – more than the F-15E Strike Eagle and the F-16C Fighting Falcon. Why did the U.S. military insist on buying it despite the cost? The main reasons are its stealthiness; its supercruise, or ability to fly...

The USAF wants to retire the F-22 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. With regards to high operating costs, the F-22 fleet was not produced in sufficient quantities to replace the F-15, and therefore its logistics and supply chain do not benefit from economy of scale as much as jets like the F-16 and F-35. The F-22 also uses legacy stealth materials that increase maintenance costs; properly retrofitting the F-22 with the F-35’s more durable full material...

Operation Pacific Iron 2021 is scheduled to take place within the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s area of responsibility in July to showcase the U.S. air force’s strategic flexibility, according to Pacific Air Forces.The announcement comes as U.S.-China tensions continue to simmer over the issues of Taiwan and the South China Sea.The exercise involves more than 35 aircraft and approximately 800 Airmen from Pacific Air Forces and Air Combat Command, Pacific Air Forces reported on July 13. Notably, 25 F-22 raptors—a seemingly unprecedented number of its kind to deploy to the West Pacific—will join the drill from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and...

Officials today would not disclose why three missile-armed Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 fighters were scrambled Sunday afternoon for an “irregular air patrol” requested by the Federal Aviation Administration. “The 154th Fighter Wing launched two F-22 Raptors from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam at approximately 4 p.m.,” Pacific Air Forces said in an email. “A third was launched at approximately 5 p.m.” The Hickam-based Air Force command added that the FAA requested that U.S. Indo-Pacific Command “conduct an irregular air patrol and the situation resolved, prompting the fighters and a KC-135 Stratotanker (a refueling plane) to return to base. We cannot...

Air Boss" is a pseudonym. The author has decades of experience in aerospace strategic analysis, planning, and acquisition, as well as assessments of strategic and tactical capabilities. =============================================================== Recent public comments by the former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, current Air Force leadership, and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith illustrate what expert observers have predicted for two decades. The F-35 program and its basic design concepts are failures. Much less widely appreciated are some more somber realities. The strategic environment the F-35 was envisioned to defeat a quarter of a century ago no longer exists, making the...

On Christmas Day last month, it was announced by Russian state media that a regiment in the Russian Southern Military District received quite a notable “present” – it was the first batch-produced Sukhoi-57 Felon multi-role fifth-generation fighter jet. At least another four of the jets could be provided to the Aerospace Force this year. “The Aerospace Force has obtained the first batch-produced Sukhoi-57 plane,” a source in the defense industrial complex told Tass. “It was delivered to a regiment in the Southern Military district.”

US President Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly approved the sale of advanced F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets to Israel, Asharq Al-Awsat reported Friday. The Move said to come as part of efforts to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region after UAE is all set to get F-35’s from the US. According to the report, the announcement was made by US Defense Secretary Mark Esper during his recent visit to Israel. The US government also purportedly gave its nod to the selling of precision-guided munitions to the Israel Defense Forces. On Tuesday, Haaretz reported that Israel sought to procure...

BETHESDA, MD—A nurse working at Walter Reed Medical Center checked in on Trump but was shocked to discover his room was empty. She looked out the window, and sure enough, he had tied bedsheets together and escaped. Just then, the nurse noticed a cup of Diet Coke left by the bedside began to ripple and shake. "Oh, no," she murmured. "Not again!" Looking out the window, she saw a speck on the horizon. A rapidly growing speck. It was Trump, gloriously flying by in an F-22 fighter jet. "Sorry, Pence -- but it's time to buzz the tower!" Trump radioed...

I thought at one time that the F22 Raptor was 'history' thanks our 'criminal' president Bill Clinton. I saw that there is a source for spare parts (under Trump). Having 'multiple platforms' means that our enemies must defend against multiple platforms. Can someone comment on the F22 situation? (without revealing Classified Info)

The video highlights just how much fly-by-wire automation is needed to make the Raptor's super maneuverability a reality. Lt. Col. Randy "Laz" Gordon is an accomplished test pilot, engineer, and F-22 Raptor squadron commander who lent his expertise about all things aviation, and especially about the F-22's incredible fly-by-wire flight control system, to students taking MIT's Private Pilot Ground School in 2019. His lecture is astonishingly accessible considering the complexities of the systems and concepts he describes and will give anyone a remarkable appreciation for just how incredible the super-maneuverable Raptor'sflight control system really is. Gordon covers so much ground...

Japan Ministry of Defense ========================================================================================= Japan has announced a timeline for a new, unnamed fighter jet to challenge China’s J-20 fighter. The new, stealthy fighter will enter production in 2031. The aircraft will replace the aging Mitsubishi F-2 fighter jet, which is based on the American F-16. ========================================================================================== The Japanese government has officially proposed a timeline for a new fighter jet designed to maintain an aerial advantage over potential North Korean and Chinese adversaries. The unnamed fighter, which will be optimized for air-to-air combat, will replace the Mitsubishi F-2 fighter jet, which was originally based on the American F-16...

A hurricane that struck Florida in late 2018 damaged and displaced so many of the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor stealth fighters that the flying branch resorted to desperate measures to ensure it could fly enough F-22 sorties. It underscores how few Raptors the Air Force possesses, and how fragile the fleet could be if it ever sustains major losses in wartime.