F-5 F-22 X-15 References Links Aviation Index Home     Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor The F-22 is the U.S. fighter for the year 2000 and beyond. It will patrol the skies to maintain air dominance for the U.S. The F-22 didn’t always have this job. It had to fight for it. For ATF. The ATF Project: The ATF (Advanced Tactical Fighter) project was a competition to be the primary stealth fighter for the U.S. Air Force. The winner of the contest would obtain a contract to build its aircraft for the Air Force. It was not an easy task to design an aircraft that fit ATF parameters. The project mainly required that the aircraft be stealthy. Stealth refers to the ability of an aircraft to hide itself from radar. Other requirements included thrust reversers, super-cruise, and STOL. Thrust reversers enable a jet aircraft to reverse the thrust of its engines, enabling it to slow down quicker. This could be useful in combat or in a tight landing situation. Thrust reversers were dismissed on the F-22 because of weight difficulties. Super-cruise is the ability of a jet aircraft to break the sound barrier without using its afterburners. The F-22 does use super-cruise and was the first aircraft to break the sound barrier without the use of its afterburners. STOL is an acronym that stands for Short TakeOff and Landing. This was a difficult task for aircraft designers. Luckily, Lockheed Martin was not alone. Boeing and General Dynamics helped in designing and building the aircraft. Boeing was assigned to design to wings, General Dynamics designed the weapons bay, and Lockheed Martin designed the fuselage. While the F-22 was being built, its competition was also hard at work. The Northrop YF-23 would face the Lockheed Martin YF-22 in the ATF competition. Like Lockheed Martin, Northrop also had a partner in the designing of its aircraft. McDonnell Douglas and Northrop worked together on the prototype YF-23. Grumman did not join the competition. The YF-22 would have been dead in the water because the YF-23 was faster, stealthier, and more maneuverable. Both aircraft performed excellent. In the end the YF-22 was chosen as the winner of the ATF competition. The reason for its win was because of Northrop’s bad delivery record. Northrop was still building B-2s for the Air Force and it was thought that Northrop would not be able to deliver the YF-23s for the Air Force in a timely manner. The Air Force was set to buy 400 F-22s for a grand total of over $60 billion. However, Government cut backs has reduced that number to only 300 F-22s. Engines: The F-22 uses two F-119 Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines. Each engine is capable of producing up to 30,000-lb.-thrust. When the aircraft was first built, there was a choice between two engines. The P&W F-119 engines are currently used in the F-22. The second choice was General Electric F-120 engines. Two aircraft were built as prototypes. One included GE engines and the other had Pratt & Whitney engines. After multiple flight tests the F-119 engines were picked. A unique feature about these engines is its capacity for thrust vectoring. The engines nozzles can tilt up or down 20 degrees. This vectoring gives the F-22 improved maneuverability and allow tighter turning—a major advantage in air combat. Avionics: The F-22 Raptor has a so called “glass cockpit.” It has four Multi-Function Displays located on the front panel of the cockpit. These MFDs can be changed to display radar, flight mechanics, or autopilot controls. The cockpit also contains a Heads Up Display, or HUD, that sits right in the pilot's line of sight out the front of the airplane. The F-22 has a very comprehensive autopilot system. The autopilot on the aircraft can takeoff, land, refuel, or match the speed of an enemy aircraft. Stealth: The F-22 is the first small stealth aircraft. It holds its secret in its design. The skin of the F-22 is made of composite material that absorbs radar waves. The aircraft is also small which helps to decrease its radar cross section. Another aspect of its stealth is its shape. The F-22 is shaped like diamonds to reflect radar in different directions. By reflecting radar waves in any other direction instead of forward will make the aircraft more stealthy. An aircraft doesn’t have to be stealthy only to radar. There are also visual and Infrared detection methods. The aircraft's small size cuts down on the visual detection method. The F-22’s F-119 supercuise engines allow it to travel above Mach 1 without using its afterburners. By doing this, less of a signal is left for an Infrared tracer to track. Maneuverability: The F-22 has tremendous maneuvering capability. The latest avionics equipment allows partial computer control during flight. The F-22 uses the thrust vectoring system to enhance its maneuverability. The F-22 can whip around and bite at any second. Basic Specifications: Length: 64 ft. 2 in. (19.55 m) Wing Span: 43 ft. (13.1 m) Height: 17 ft. 8 in. (5.39 m) Powerplant: two Pratt & Whitney F-119 engines rated at 35,000-lb.-thrust each Operational Range: 2000 mi. (3218.6 km) Maximum Speed: 1200 mph (1931.16 kph) Max Ceiling: 60,000 ft. (18288 m) Empty Weight: 31,000 lb. (14061 kg) Loaded Weight: 60,000 lb. (27216 kg) Weapons: One 20-mm cannon, 6 AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, and 2 AIM-9 sidewinder missiles.