A
VARIETY OF FACTORS
stemming from the YF-
DEM/VAL phase of the ATF
programme had already
introduced delays — not
least plenty of Department
of Defense moving of the goalposts.
This served to knock Initial Operating
Capability (IOC) steadily to the right well
before Lockheed Martin commenced
the Engineering and Manufacturing and
Demonstration (EMD) phase. Concerns over
affordability also trimmed the production
plan from 750 down to 648 aircraft, but
much more was to come.
One of the main challenges facing the
F-22 team as it moved into EMD was
balancing the crucial low observable
characteristics with a high performancedesign and with through life support in
mind. The opening of access panels and
potentially corrupting the external stealthy
coating needed to be minimised, so parts
and maintenance procedures needed to be
robust. All weapons and fuel needed to be
carried internally so as not to compromise
the stealthy signature — meaning a
capacious airframe design. The fly-by-wire
flight control system was also incredibly
advanced, with thrust vectoring and high
Alpha manoeuvring needing to be proved
out, and the software written and tested to
underscore the performance.
Comparisons can be drawn between the
F-22 programme and the F-35 Lightning
II. Like the current Joint Strike Fighter
project, the F-22 too carried a concurrency
risk, albeit on a far more sensible scale. AWith the YF-
project complete,
Lockheed Martin
moved to develop
the production
version of
the F-22,
which became
known as the
Raptor. A huge
development
effort ensued,
which forged
a path to
operational
service.A plan view of
Paul Metz flying
Raptor 01 during
the maiden flight
on September 7,- All photos
Lockheed Martin
unless stated
(^16) RAPTOR
flight test YF-22 TO F-
16-27 Metz First Flight C.indd 16 28/09/2017 15: