Development Decisions of the F-22

Overview

Development of Previous USAF Aircraft Reasons for Development Aircraft Design Goals Proposals for ATF Competition ATF Competition Flight Test and Further Development Raptors Mission

Previous Aircraft Development

USAF had no Air Superiority Fighter in Vietnam F-15 and Fighter Experimental (FX) Program
First true Air Superiority Fighter Provides fighter sweep, escort and CAP capability

F-16 and the Lightweight Fighter Mafia

John Boyd, Pierre Sprey and Col. Everest Riccioni

make up Mafia Mafia pushed for inexpensive, lightweight fighter excelling in dogfighting In flight tests, F-16 kills F-4E in mock combat

Reasons For 4th Generation Fighter Development

USSR Upgrading Military

Replacing older aircraft with MiG-23/27s and

Su-22M3/M4

Projected threat of MiG-29 and Su-27

Thought to nearly match performance of F-15

and F-16

New Surface to Air Missiles

Greater range and accuracy

MiG-23 MiG-27

Su-22

MiG-29

Su-27

Aircraft Design Goals

Air-superiority fighter Supersonic cruise Increased combat radius over F-15 Stealthy Take-off and landing in 2000 ft Easier maintainability than F-15 60,000 to 80,000 take-off weight Reasonable Price

Advanced Tactical Fighter Proposals

General Dynamics
Tailless, delta-wing design Design was changed to include a single vertical

tail which hurt its all-aspect stealth

Boeing
V-tail , diamond wing design Most notable feature -- single chin inlet

Northrop YF-23

Diamond-shaped wing Shallow-angle V-tails Unique fly-by-light control system Supercruise (> M1) Design stresses stealthiness and speed Lack of agility gave YF-22 advantage in ATF competition

Northrop YF-23

Lockheed YF-22

Conventional design with trapezoidal wings and horizontal and vertical tails Vectored thrust gives high agility Supercruise Stealthy Demonstration testing included missile firing and full avionics mock-up Lockheed wins ATF competition

Lockheed YF-22

F-22 Raptor

AF to acquire 339 F-22s (down from 750) First flight on 7 September 1997 Avionics testbed on a modified 757

Initial Operational Capability 2001-2002

F-22 Capabilities

Stealth Supercruise Maneuverability Integrated Avionics Advanced Radar

FIRST LOOK, FIRST SHOT, FIRST KILL

Raptors Mission

F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter provide a two pronged attack

F-22 provides air-superiority
Surpasses capability of F-15

JSF provides precision strike capability

Replaces and outperforms F-16

The Air Force of Tomorrow

Summary

Development of Previous USAF Aircraft Reasons for Development Aircraft Design Goals Proposals for ATF Competition ATF Competition Flight Test and Further Development Raptors Mission