raptor aircraft

Raptor Aircraft - The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an American single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). As a result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, the aircraft is designed as an air superiority fighter, but also has ground attack, electronic warfare and signals intelligence capabilities. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin built most of the F-22's fuselage and weapon systems and performed final assembly, while Boeing provided the wings, aft fuselage, avionics integration and training systems.

The aircraft first flew in 1997 and was designated as the F-22 and F/A-22 before officially entering service in December 2005 as the F-22A. Although the USAF originally planned to purchase a total of 750 ATFs, the program was reduced to 187 operational aircraft in 2009 due to high costs, a lack of air-to-air missions due to the military's focus on counterinsurgency operations at the time of production, the export ban, and the development of the F-35 , more accessible and versatile;

Raptor Aircraft

Although it experienced prolonged development and initial operational difficulties, the F-22 became a critical component of the USAF's tactical air force. The combination of stealth, aerodynamic performance and mission systems in the fighter provides unprecedented capabilities in air combat and sets the standard for its generation.

Lockheed Martin F 22 Raptor Airplane Chengdu J 20 General Dynamics F 16 Fighting Falcon Lockheed Sr 71 Blackbird, Fighter Aircraft, Flight, Flying Png

The F-22 is expected to serve until the 2030s and will eventually be succeeded by the USAF's Next Generation Fighter Wing (NGAD) component.

In 1981, the US Air Force identified a requirement for an Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) to replace the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon. Codenamed "Sior Sky", this air superiority fighter program was affected by new threats around the world, including new developments in Soviet air defense systems and the proliferation of the Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker" - and the Mikoyan MiG-29 "Fulcrum" " - a class of fighter aircraft.

It would take advantage of new technologies in the design of fighters on the horizon, including composite materials, light alloys, advanced avionics and flight control systems, more powerful propulsion systems and, most importantly, stealth technology. In 1983, the ATF Concept Development Team became the Systems Programs Office (SPO) and managed the program at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. A Demonstration and Validation (Dem/Val) Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in September 1985 with requirements that strongly emphasized stealth and supercruise. Because of the huge investment required to develop the technology needed to meet performance targets, pooling between companies was encouraged. Of the seven companies that applied,

Lockheed and Northrop were selected on October 31, 1986. Lockheed, through its Skunk Works division, partnered with Boeing and General Dynamics, while Northrop partnered with McDonnell Douglas, and the two teams under contract executed a 50-month Dem/Val phase, which culminated in the flight test of two technology demonstration prototypes, the IF-22 and IF-23, respectively. At the same time, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric were awarded contracts to develop the IF119 and IF120 engines, respectively, for the ATF engine competition.

Lockheed Martin F 22 Raptor Aircraft Tax...

Dem/Val focused on systems engineering, technology development plans, and risk reduction in one-off aircraft projects; in fact, after downsizing, the Lockheed team completely changed the fuselage configuration in the summer of 1987 due to weight analysis during detailed design, with significant changes including the wing shape from a swept trapezoid to a diamond-like delta and a reduction in the forward fuselage plant area.

Analytical and empirical methods, including computational fluid dynamics, wind tunnel testing and radar cross-section (RCS) calculations, and pole testing, have been extensively used by the contractors; The Lockheed team would conduct nearly 18,000 hours of testing in the wind tunnel. The development of avionics was marked by extensive testing and prototypes, supported by ground and flight laboratories.

During Dem/Val, the SPO used the results of the commercial performance and cost studies conducted by the contractor teams to adjust the ATF requirements and exclude those that were significant weight and cost factors, even though they were of marginal value. The short take-off and landing (STOL) requirement was relaxed to exclude thrust reversers, saving significant weight. With avionics being the main cost driver, the side-sight radars were disabled and the dedicated Infrared Search and Track (IRST) system was reduced from multi-color to monochrome and also disabled. However, space and cooling were retained to allow for the later addition of these components. Ejection seat requirements were reduced from the new design to the existing McDonnell Douglas ACES II. Despite the efforts of the contract crews to control the weight, the estimated gross take-off weight was increased from 50,000 lb (22,700 kg) to 60,000 lb (27,200 kg), resulting in a 30,000 lbf (133 lbf) increase in engine thrust to 133 kN (156 kN) .

Each team produced two prototype air vehicles for Dem/Val, one for each of the two engine options. The IF-22 made its first flight on September 29, 1990 and flight tests reached Mach 1.58 in supercruise. After the Dem/Val flight test of the prototypes, on 23 April 1991, USAF Secretary Donald Rice announced Tim Lockheed and Pratt and Whitney as the winners of the ATF and gin competitions.

Why Don't F 22s Fly From Aircraft Carriers?

The IF-23 design was considered more stealthy and faster, while the IF-22, with its thrust vectoring nozzles, was easier to maneuver as well as less explosive and risky.

The press speculated that the Lockheed team's design was also more adaptable to the US Navy's Navalized Advanced Tactical Fighter (NATF).

As the program moved into full-scale development, or engineering and manufacturing development (EMD), the production design of the F-22 had significant differences from the IF-22 despite the similar configuration. The sweep angle of the leading edge of the wing has been reduced from 48° to 42°, while the vertical stabilizers have been moved aft and reduced in area by 20%.

The shape of the radar was changed for better radar performance, and the wingtips were cut for antennas. To improve pilot visibility and aerodynamics, the canopy was moved forward 7 inches (18 cm) and the engine intakes were moved 14 inches (36 cm). The shapes of the fuselage, wings and trailing edge of the gimbal have been improved to improve aerodynamics, power and stealth characteristics. The production hull is designed with a lifespan of 8,000 hours.

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In addition to advances in air vehicle and propulsion technology, the F-22's avionics and software were unprecedented in complexity and scope, with a fusion of multiple systems and software integration of 1.7 million lines of code.

To enable initial visualization and troubleshooting for mission software development, a Boeing 757 was modified with F-22 mission systems to serve as a flying testbed laboratory.

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 reduced the Department of Defense's (DoD's) urgency for new weapons systems, and the following years will see a reduction in DoD's velocity; this led to the F-22's EMD being reprogrammed and changed multiple times. The division of labor between the team was largely from Dem/Val to EMD, although prime contractor Lockheed took over the fighter portfolio from General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas in 1993 and therefore had most of the airframe production. While Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

Primarily performed Dem/Val work at its Skunk Works facility in Burbank and Palmdale, CA, would move program office and EMD work from Burbank to Marietta, GA, where it did final assembly; Program partner Boeing provided additional airframe components, as well as avionics integration and training systems in Seattle, Washington.

Lockheed Martin F 22 Raptor Aircraft Stock Photo

The first F-22, an EMD aircraft with tail number 4001, was unveiled at Dobbins Air Force Reserve Base in Marietta on 9 April 1997 and first flew on 7 September 1997.

The USAF originally expected to order 750 ATFs at a total program cost of $44.3 billion and a procurement cost of $26.2 billion in fiscal 1985 dollars, with production beginning in 1994 and trial service in the late 1990s . Dick Chey reduced it to 648 aircraft from 1996 and in service in the early to mid-2000s, it was further reduced in a downward revision in 1993, and in 1997 funding instability reduced the total to 339, which was reduced again to 277 in 2003.

In 2004, with a focus on asymmetric counterinsurgency warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense under Secretary Donald Rumsfeld further reduced the planned procurement to 183 operational aircraft, despite the USAF's preference for 381 to ensure an adequate number of squadrons for its structure. For Expedia.

A multi-year procurement plan was implemented in 2006 to save $15 billion, with total program costs projected at $62 billion for 183 F-22s spread across seven fighter squadrons.

F 22 Raptor

In 2008, Congress passed a defense bill that increased the total order for production aircraft to 187.

Production, with the first batch awarded in September 2000, supported more than 1,000 subcontractors and suppliers from 46 countries and up to 95,000 jobs, and lasted 15 years at a maximum rate of approximately two aircraft per month.

Configuration for initial flight test and speed extension, while the third was a Block 2.0 aircraft built to represent the internal structure of production fuselages and capable of testing full flight loads. Another six EMD aircraft were built in Block 10 configuration for test and development, with the last two considered to be production quality jets. Production for operational squadrons consisted of 74 Block 10/20 and 112 Block trainers.

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