With very few major snags, only
budgetary restrictions delayed the F-
initially, moving the rst ight from
1995 back to May 1997. The planned
procurement was also cut further. In 1993,
the USAF planned to purchase 648 F-22s at
a unit cost of $84 million in 1995 dollars —
but then further cuts came, down to 442 in
1994, then to 339 in the 1997 Quadrennial
Defense Review. The 1994 reduction took
the projected unit cost to $91 million.
These constant cuts and resulting need
to restructure the programme and its
teams’ test schedules served to create
huge wastage.In this period the two-seat F-22B was also
removed from the project on cost grounds.
The USAF — rightly — felt con dent
that the advanced y-by-wire ‘carefree
abandon’ handling of the F-22 and use of
advanced simulators negated the need for
a two-seat trainer.
As well as the pressure for the F-
project to be reduced in terms of
production numbers, it was also being
pressured to justify its existence through
expanded combat roles. In May 1993, the
USAF added a need for an air-to-ground
capability with precision-guided munitions
(PGMs). Under a $6.5 million contract
addition in May 1993, it was agreed for the
main weapons bay and associated avionics
to be adapted for the addition of two 1,
lb GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions
(JDAMs) to replace two AIM-120s. Indeed,
the addition of ground attack capability
eventually resulted in the temporary
redesignation as the F/A-22, which was
announced by USAF Chief of Sta Gen
John Jumper on September 17, 2002. This
lasted only until December 2005 when the
F-22A designation was re-adopted.
Turning back to EMD, the Preliminary
Design Review was completed on April
30, 1993, with the Critical Design ReviewInset top: Much of
the EMD-phase
work in the
early years was
geared towards
planning how
the F-22 would
operate.
Inset left: The rst
F-22 is towed
from the nal
assembly area in
the B-1 building
in Marietta
to the newly
constructed B-
engine noise
attenuation
facility for
fueling
operations and
engine runs.
Lockheed Martin/
John Rossino
Below: Paul Metz
taxies for the
maiden ight on
September 7.electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
The ALR-94 is composed of more than
30 antennas blended into the wings
and fuselage to provide 360-degree
coverage and detection for radar signals.
Tom Burbage, former F-22 programme
manager at Lockheed Martin, described
it as being ‘the most technically complex
piece of equipment on the aircraft’. It has
a greater range than the radar (more than
250nm) and this allows the Raptor to limit
its own radar emissions to maximise its
low observability. As targets approach, the
ALR-94 can cue the AESA radar to track
them with a narrow, focused, beam. It can
also receive and transmit its data covertly
inside the formation via its secure Intra-
Flight Data Link (IFDL).
In the cockpit, the F-22 pilot is set up as
the tactician, with many of the systems
such as electrical power and hydraulics
all automated and computer controlled.
Sensor fusion neatly combines all aspects
of the F-22’s sensor suite, and presents
them in a user-friendly manner. This
melds the radar and ALR-94 data with that
received via the datalink.
All of this started to be eshed out in the
EMD programme, which was awarded on
August 2, 1991, for 11 (later reduced to
nine) ying prototypes, plus one static test
article and one fatigue test airframe.(^18) RAPTOR
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