aft stick pressure through the moderate
bu et to the light bu et at which point they
will feel the yaw rate of the aircraft start to
increase; at this point the jet is post-stall.
Essentially, we are teaching our ghter
pilots to execute a certain manoeuvre or
perform a certain task to achieve their
objectives when they see a certain picture
from the enemy. Being able to successfully
manoeuvre your jet in relation to another
aircraft is one of the most important
characteristics of a ghter pilot.’
Sqn Ldr ‘Duzza’ is the privileged UK Royal
Air Force exchange pilot on the Raptor,
currently ying alongside ‘Bullet’ at the 94th
FS. ‘The Raptor has incredible power’, he
says. ‘It can also pull very high alpha and
the post-stall control is truly eye watering.
When applicable, we use it quite a bit
during BFM with Cobras, J-turns, pedal turns
and high-alpha loops. In short-range BFM
engagements you’ll de nitely see high-
alpha manoeuvres — up to 60 degrees — as
we trade altitude and energy for angles.’
While the thrust vectoring clearly has its
uses, the F-22 pilot is still without a helmet-
mounted sight system, such as the Joint
Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) inthe F-15 and F-16. While the Thales Scorpion
system has been trialed on the Raptor, it has
not advanced to the front line.
The agile Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinder
has made it though to the combat-coded
F-22 squadrons under Update 5, after a
lengthy and drawn-out test programme.
While it provides the Raptor with an o -
boresight close-in capability, it cannot be
used to its full potential without a helmet
cueing system. Lt Col ‘Lobo’ says: ‘We have
the AIM-9X on the jet now, which is a great
improvement, but we would love to have
a helmet [mounted cueing system]. It’s
more critical for our fourth-generation
colleagues than it is for the Raptor, because
typically I can arrive in the bandit’s six o’clock
undetected.’
However, others acknowledge that the
F-22 remains at a disadvantage in the close
— within visual range (WVR) — ght due to
the lack of helmet sight. ‘We are not equal to
the threat in that environment’, comments
one pilot.THE LONG GAME
It’s BVR (beyond visual range) where the
F-22 truly excels air-to-air. The whole point‘THERE’S
SIGNIFICANT
MESSAGING THAT
GOES ALONG WITH
THE DEPLOYMENT
OF RAPTORS INTO
A THEATRE. SO THE
DEMAND FOR THEM
IS VERY HIGH’
PETE ‘COACH’ FESLER
up 3000ft behind in their six and know they
never saw you. The way they’re used to
seeing you is just not there.’
Maj ‘Bullet’ is the weapons o cer on
the 94th FS. As a newly patched Weapons
School graduate he is tasked with teaching
the latest weapons and tactics on the unit
— he’s the resident expert in ripping into
the enemy. ‘Thrust vectoring gives you the
ability to point, but it doesn’t mean you’re
automatically going to win. We teach our
young pilots to use post-stall manoeuvres in
a way those manoeuvres can be bene cial;
during scenarios when we see speci c
‘pictures’ [of the enemy] during BFM [basic
ghter manoeuvres].
‘For example, if we see a bandit
overshooting our turn circle inside of a
certain range, with a certain amount of line-
of-sight rate and planform, we will teach our
young ghter pilots to execute a minimum-
radius turn to defeat the enemy’s attack and
deny them our control zone. We’ll tell our
pilots that in order to execute a min-radius
turn, they need to select power to max A/B
[afterburner], roll with lateral stick to set
lift-vector approximately 30-45 degrees
angle of bank, input full pedal, and increaseBelow: A close
view of a Raptor
is something that
few bandit pilots
get — at work
over the large
Atlantic ranges
near Langley.RAPTOR^5550-63 1st FW C.indd 55 28/09/2017 14:50