Most Dangerous Fighter Aircraft in the World ~ News Techz Blog

F-22 Raptor stealth fighter is made in the United States. The aircraft was originally planned to be used as air superiority fighter for fighter aircraft used against the Soviet Union, but the aircraft is equipped for ground attack, electronic warfare and signals intelligence. This aircraft through a long period of development, prototype versions were named YF-22, three years before it was officially adopted named F/A-22, and eventually was named the F-22A when it officially came into use in December 2005. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is the prime contractor responsible for producing most of the airframe, armament, and the assembly of the F-22. Then his partner, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems manufactures the wings, avionics equipment, and pilot training and maintenance.

HISTORY

Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) is a contract for the demonstration and validation program that made the United States Air Force to develop a new generation air superiority fighter to face threats from outside the United States, including the development of the Su-27 aircraft-grade Soviet era.

In 1981, the United States Air Force to map the requirements to be met a new fighter aircraft that is planned to replace the F-15 Eagle. ATF planned to integrate modern technology such as advanced metal and composite materials, advanced control systems, high-powered propulsion systems, and stealth aircraft technology.
Proposals for the contract was filed in 1986, by two contractor teams, namely the Lockheed-Boeing-General Dynamics and Northrop-McDonnell Douglas, which was elected in October 1986 for the demonstration and validation phase for 50 months, which eventually produced two prototypes, the YF -22 and the YF-23.

The aircraft is planned to be the most advanced U.S. aircraft at the beginning of the 21st century, therefore, this aircraft is the most expensive fighter aircraft, at a price of U.S. $ 120 million per unit, or U.S. $ 361 million per unit when added to the cost of development. In April 2005, the total development cost of this program is U.S. $ 70 billion, causing the number of aircraft planned to be made down to 438, then 381, and now 180, from the initial plan of 750 aircraft. One of the factors causing this reduction is due to the F-35 Lightning II will have the same technology as the F-22, but with a cheaper unit price.

Production

F-22 production version was first delivered to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, on January 14, 2003. Final testing and evaluation conducted on October 27, 2004. At the end of 2004, there have been 51 Raptor is sent, with 22 more booked in the fiscal 2004 budget. Destruction of the first production version occurred on December 20, 2004 at the time of takeoff, the pilot ejected safely after a few moments before it crashed. Investigation concluded that the fall of power interruptions when shut off the engine before takeoff causing damage to the control system.

F-22 Armament

F-22 is designed to carry air-to-air missiles are stored internally in the fuselage so as not to interfere with the ability silumannya. Missile launch was preceded by opening the valve arms and missiles is driven downward by a hydraulic system. This aircraft could also carry bombs such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Small-Diameter Bomb (SDB) is more recent. In addition to internal storage, this aircraft can also carry weapons on four external points, but if it is used will greatly reduce the ability of stealth, speed, and agility. For backup guns, F-22 carrying automatic cannon M61A2 Vulcan 20 mm stored in the right side of the aircraft, the gun was carrying 480 rounds, and will be discharged if fired continuously for about five seconds. Nevertheless, the F-22 can use this gun when the fight without being detected, which will be needed when the missile is up.

Stealth capabilities of the F-22

Modern fighter aircraft are wearing contemporary Western features that make them more difficult to detect on radar than previous aircraft, such as the use of radar absorbing material. In the F-22, besides the use of radar absorbing material, shape and form F-22 is also designed, and other details such as the hook on the aircraft and the pilot's helmet also been assembled for tersembunyi.F-22 is also designed to emit infra-red more difficult to be tracked by a missile "heat seekers".

However, the F-22 does not depend on the radar absorbing material such as the F-117 Nighthawk. The use of this material could raise the issue because it is not resistant to bad weather. And unlike the stealth bomber B-2 Spirit that require special hangars, the F-22 can be given regular maintenance on the hangar. In addition, the F-22 also has a system called "Signature Assessment System", which will indicate when the aircraft radar footprint is already high, until eventually require repairs and maintenance.

Afterburner usage also makes aircraft emissions more easily captured by the radar, it is thought the reason why the F-22 is focused to have the ability supercruise.