F-22 Raptor

[SeanD]

I had the pleasure of checking out this years Aviation Nation at Nellis yesterday. It was pretty impressive. They did a demo of the F-22 and all I have to say is WOW. Its hard to believe what that thing is capable of. Thrust vectoring is the s***. Anyone else seen this thing in action?

[bike21]

It's pretty much my favorite airplane ever, bred for it's skills and magic

[H46Bubba]

Originally Posted by SeanD

I had the pleasure of checking out this years Aviation Nation at Nellis yesterday. It was pretty impressive. They did a demo of the F-22 and all I have to say is WOW. Its hard to believe what that thing is capable of. Thrust vectoring is the s***. Anyone else seen this thing in action?

It was designed to do a lot more, but is limited due to pilot physiology limitations.

[OldTownPilot]

Damn pilots, always screwing things up

[GatorFC]

I saw it at the Ft. Lauderdale Air and Sea Show this year. It truly was impressive!

Go to the Raptor website: http://www.f22-raptor.com/
You can see the Air Show Demo there.

[slushie]

I was there on friday watching that thing go crazy

[mojo6911]

Can it do slow flight at 38 KIAS? Thought not...

[Doug Taylor]

This is all third hand information, but apparently, a single F-22 took on a flight of three F-15's or F-14's (I can't remember) during a combat training exercise. From what I remember, the F-22 had scored kills on all three aircraft before the others even able to detect the presence of the aircraft.

Hacker15e may have more accurate information.

[SeanD]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

This is all third hand information, but apparently, a single F-22 took on a flight of three F-15's or F-14's (I can't remember) during a combat training exercise. From what I remember, the F-22 had scored kills on all three aircraft before the others even able to detect the presence of the aircraft.

Hacker15e may have more accurate information.

I was talking to an F-15 pilot yesterday before the demos. He told me during Red Flag the Raptor went against squads of F-15s, F-16s and Hornets and won before detection. He also said its dogfighting capabilities are like nothing anyone has ever seen. It can literally turn on a dime and get behind an opposing aircraft in seconds. Like H46bubba said it can do much more, however the human body would not stand up to the physical effects.

[bike21]

Hmm....gets me thinking (don't feel like Googling) which is better? F-22 or the new Mig thingy (the Fulcrum or whatever with the candards up front)

I am talking a pure dogfight comparison here. Not shooting at each other from 100 miles away

[Tram]

I've never really liked the look of the F-22 on the ground but have shared airspace with it on more than one occasion and it is a pretty dominating bird in the sky..

They used to fly in and out of Dobbins when I was flying out of FTY.. They'd always call out "traffic - a flight of two raptors" and it'd usually be a Raptor and an F-16 in the red/white scheme..

It's a pretty sweet bird..

[Doug Taylor]

A little trivia.

One of Kristie's bridesmaids helped design the FADEC on the raptor.

[I_Money]

So was MikeD flying it?

[Doug Taylor]

MikeD, when he falls in love, tends to fall off the edge of the Earth. I'll have to contact the Mullah's down in Queen Creek to see what's up!

[ian]

i was at the Vegas show on Sunday....it was pretty unbelievable

[calcapt]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

...From what I remember, the F-22 had scored kills on all three aircraft before the others even able to detect the presence of the aircraft.

Ironic that we have this much capability in the air going essentially unused, and we can't figure out how to stop an Iraqi tribesman from blowing up our soldiers with homemade bombs. What is this leap of technology gaining us in the war we are actually engaged in? Is this the best place to put our DOD dollars? Just wondering you know...

[PGT]

doesn't it have corrosion problems on the outer layer of skin? I thought I read that somewhere.

[NickH]

It's all about increasing the technology now while we have the cash, so that when we are fighting the Chinese after the economic collapse we have the technology to keep up.

?

[SmoothLanderJ]

Originally Posted by calcapt

Ironic that we have this much capability in the air going essentially unused, and we can't figure out how to stop an Iraqi tribesman from blowing up our soldiers with homemade bombs. What is this leap of technology gaining us in the war we are actually engaged in? Is this the best place to put our DOD dollars? Just wondering you know...

.......

[TFaudree_ERAU]

Originally Posted by Tram

I've never really liked the look of the F-22 on the ground but have shared airspace with it on more than one occasion and it is a pretty dominating bird in the sky..

Doesn't mean you were in the same place at the same time? Thats no good; glad you're ok.

Being close to the first Raptor base in the country, Langley AFB, I've gotten to fly overhead the airport with 6 or 8 of them departing two-by-two. Pretty neat sight, but I've never seen them do their dogfighting thing. Maybe one day I'll have enough time off to catch one of the many military airshows in this area.

[falconvalley]

Originally Posted by SeanD

I was talking to an F-15 pilot yesterday before the demos. He told me during Red Flag the Raptor went against squads of F-15s, F-16s and Hornets and won before detection. He also said its dogfighting capabilities are like nothing anyone has ever seen. It can literally turn on a dime and get behind an opposing aircraft in seconds. Like H46bubba said it can do much more, however the human body would not stand up to the physical effects.

I heard the same thing. It was something about an overwhelming kill ratio. I think the analog jets did get one or two though.

[calcapt]

Originally Posted by NickH

It's all about increasing the technology now while we have the cash, so that when we are fighting the Chinese after the economic collapse we have the technology to keep up.

?

Brilliant strategic planning. Perhaps I have been a little too critical of our visionary leaders. My bad....

[CapnJim]

The Chinese currently field the Su-27, a contemprary of the F-15 and F-18 in many respects. The Su-37 is a match for the F-22, but it currently has no manufacturer.

China would be an excellent customer. Then, God forbid, we can see who can kill who from just how far, and just how close, and just how high.

It's stupid and arrogant and wasteful. But then, so was the bombing of Dresden.

To victory!

It makes me want to f'n vomit.

[mhcasey]

Originally Posted by calcapt

Brilliant strategic planning. Perhaps I have been a little too critical of our visionary leaders. My bad....

Any potential enemy that's even thinking about engaging us knows that we will gain complete control of the skies very very quickly. What does that mean? Most people will think long and hard before choosing to go to war with us. If they do, we will be able to bomb whatever the f*** we want at anytime at the strategic or tactical level. Our problem now is making sure we don't blow up too much (aka civilians and infrastructure).

Would we be able to have UAVs and AC-130's loitering over the skies all the freakin time without air superiority? Do you think the troops getting position reports from the skies appreciate our air superiority? What about the helo's...I guess they wouldn't care if they were getting shot at by stronger air defenses that we weren't able to topple because we chose to save money instead of replacing our 40 year old airplanes...

Don't forget airlift/airdrop. That doesn't work so well either when enemy fighters and SAMs are still all over the place.

Do we need the F-22 to maintain air supremacy? Maybe not today, but I sleep better knowing they're out there. But then again, maybe insurgents in the middle east are going to be the last enemies we ever face...

The key is protecting the 18 year olds on the ground with rifles, and the Raptor seems like it will be very effective in that role (I'm not talking CAS so don't freak out...you need air superiority to hope for effective CAS and that's where the Raptor comes in handy). The DoD may screw the pooch from time to time, but this is not one of those times.

Rant over...

[CapnJim]