The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor became the world’s first fifth-generation fighter jet, lauded for its stealth, supermaneuverability, and supercruise capability. As the centerpiece of the U.S. Air Force’s aerial strategy, the F-22 redefined air superiority with its advanced design and capabilities. But ambitions by the Navy to adapt the aircraft into a carrier-capable variant-the so-called “Sea Raptor”-ultimately never came to fruition.
Born from the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter program was initiated in the 1980s to counter the Soviet Union’s expanding fleet of modern fighters. The greatest feature of the Raptor, by far, is its minute radar cross-section; making it at least five times less observable than the newer F-35 Lightning II. Powered with two Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan engines, the F-22 has a combined thrust of about 70,000 pounds. It features three internal weapons bays capable of carrying a combination of the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, along with GBU-32 JDAM bombs.
The Navy once considered adapting the F-22 for carrier operations-the variant labeled “Sea Raptor.” This would have entailed significant design modifications, including the installation of a variable-sweep wing in a fashion similar to the F-14 Tomcat. These would have come at the expense of reduced aircraft stealth capabilities, however. When the Soviet Union fell, the requirement for such an aircraft greatly decreased as military priorities shifted away from sea control. Consequently, the Navy decided it required the multirole, carrier-capable F-35 Lightning II with fully advanced sensors as well as ISR mission capabilities. The Navy is purchasing a multirole, carrier-suitable variant, the F-35C, featuring fully advanced sensors and ISR mission capabilities.
The F-22 makes this possible through its sophisticated aerodynamic design, advanced flight controls, and thrust vectoring. The sensor suite allows the pilot to detect, identify, and engage air-to-air threats well before detection. The F-22 boasts significant advances in cockpit design and sensor fusion to further enhance pilot situational awareness, affording a first-look, first-shot, first-kill capability against adversaries.
It enables the U.S. and allied forces to engage targets with unmatched battlespace awareness by collecting and sharing tactical information with legacy aircraft. The radar emissions of the Raptor can also be focused on overloading enemy sensors, adding an electronic attack capability to its arsenal.
The F-22 Raptor entered service on December 15, 2005. Deployment of the fighter started in February 2007 with its arrival at Kadena Air Base in Japan. For the first time, the fighter joined combat sorties in Operation Inherent Resolve when it attacked the positions of the Islamic State in Syria. A total of 204 sorties were flown by F-22s between September 2014 and July 2015, releasing 270 bombs on 60 locations. On June 23, 2015, two F-22s undertook the aircraft’s very first close air support mission, protecting friendly forces operating in Syria.
Despite its advanced capabilities, the F-22 never reached the broad production originally planned. The Department of Defense cut back production to 187 units, largely due to the high costs and a move in focus to the dual-capable F-35. The Raptor also was never designed for export, again restricting deployment to the U.S. Air Force. The F-22 is still an imposing factor in the operational fleet of the Air Force, but its production has come to a close and will continue into operations until Congress has approved its retirement.
The F-22 Raptor is a model of American prowess in the fields of stealth and air superiority, even in a world wherein the face of the military has constantly changed.