S
TANDING IN AWE, watching
a US Air Force F-22 Raptor
air display in 2017, you’d
be forgiven for forgetting
the troubled origins of this
astonishing machine. Today,
most fighter pilots are in agreement
that the F-22 is without equal — it’s an
awesome aerial dominator and the US
Air Force simply doesn’t have enough of
them to meet demand. However, back in
the 1990s it was over budget, embroiled
in an exhaustive test programme, and
struggling for funding.
Those in the know always backed it.
Despite its rather conventional looks, the
F-22 re-wrote the rulebook on fighter
aircraft. Its combination of stealth (low
observability), advanced sensor fusionand incredible raw performance made it
unbeatable in the modern era, despite
the incredible amount of time it took
to realise its operational potential. It’s
testament to the people that took this
aircraft from concept to operational
squadrons that it didn’t lose relevance,
despite having such a protracted
development period.RAPTOR ORIGINS
The F-22 was borne out of the US Air
Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF)
requirement for 750 new fighters to
replace the McDonnell Douglas F-
Eagle. The ATF programme was driven by
a USAF requirement to counter advanced
Soviet fighter aircraft and surface-to-air
missile (SAM) systems.Despite being
lavished with
praise today, the
Raptor had troubled
beginnings in an era
of defence cutbacks.
It was conceived
as the Advanced
Tactical Fighter and
was chosen amid
an intense battle
between aerospace
heavyweights.CONCEIVING THE
(^06) RAPTOR
f-22 raptor THE ADVANCED TACTICAL FIGHTER
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