Last Updated: Sat Aug 23 02:51:48 UTC 2008

Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor
An early production  F-22A at Tyndall AFB
(U.S. Air Force photo)

In the words of the Chief of the Defence Force (formerly the  Chief of Air Force) -

'The F/A-22 will be the most outstanding fighter aircraft ever built. ... Every fighter pilot in the Air Force would dearly love to fly it.'

Now in full rate production, the F-22A is far superior to the JSF currently envisaged by the Department as the RAAF's future combat aircraft. Unfortunately, the F-22A has been the subject of intensive yet always dishonest criticism in Australia, most often through misrepresentations of the aircraft's diverse capabilities, its applicability to Australia's needs and its affordability.

The Director of the New Air Combat Capability (D-NACC) has claimed in the media and representations to Government and the Parliament that -

'There's more to air combat capability than just speed, thrust, payload and wing loading. Air combat in the 21st century is all about systems and networks of systems - the old rules of thumb about what gives you a winning edge are obsolete.' (D-NACC, Canberra, Defence Watch Seminar, May 2004)

This statement is a good example of the reactive and convoluted thinking which has pervaded our Department of Defence since the late 1990s and is reminiscent of other great faux pas in military capability planning (eg. the British TSR-2 Fiasco [Click for more ...] and the infamous Duncan Sandys 1957 Defence White Paper which almost killed British aviation [Click for more ...] ).

The claim that 'Air combat in the 21st century is all about systems and networks of systems' represents only half the story - a propensity for which is a common ailment in Defence today - and, with the proliferation of like systems in our region, will only maintain parity with other regional capabilities.

The statement that '...the old rules of thumb about what gives you a winning edge are obsolete' is of most concern and reflects a view held by some in Russell Offices that the fighter pilot's holy grail of being able to engage, disengage and re-engage at will throughout the space/time continuum of air combat, while staying outside an opponent's kill envelope, no longer applies.

Nothing could be further from the truth, as the air combat kill ratio of the supercruising, high agility F-22A attests, and the soon to emerge supercruising derivatives of the high agility Su-30 family of aircraft will attest. With the advent of agile and smart stand off weaponry, the day of the 'canopy to canopy' air combat knife-fight portrayed in the Hollywood film, 'Top Gun', may well be over.

However, it is being replaced by the even more demanding, in both situational awareness and kinematics, aerial manoeuvring which now takes place 'Beyond Visual Range', where the fighter pilot's holy grail will continue to be the determinant as to whether one lives or dies.

This website will post a selection of relevant articles, submissions and papers.



Raptor performs first drop of small diameter bomb. An F-22 Raptor drops a small diameter bomb from its weapons bay during a test mission Sept. 5. The test marks the first airborne separation of a small diameter bomb from the internal weapons bay of an F-22. Testing of the SDB with the F-22 is part of the Increment 3.1 upgrade to the aircraft.Maj. Jack Fischer, 411th Flight Test Squadron test pilot noted that  "Targets we can't get with most weapons, we can get with the F-22 because we have stealth, with this weapon and aircraft, there is no place we can't reach and no place for an enemy to hide." (Photo by Darin Russell, Text by 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, US Air Force)

F-22A Exercises and Deployments [Click for more ...]
What would an F-22A Raptor look like in RAAF colours? [Click for more ...]

F-22A Articles

Air Power Australia - January 2007 - F-22A Raptor Analysis
Defence Today - April 2005 -  F/A-22 Raptor - Stealth, Supercruise, Firepower [PDF] (Revised/Updated Version Above)
HeadsUp Newsletter - Issue 318 - HEADSUP SPECIAL - Is the JSF really good enough? analysing the ASPI paper [PDF]
HeadsUp Newsletter - Issue 322 - HEADSUP SPECIAL - F/A-22As, JSFs and 21st Century air combat [PDF]
Australian Financial Review - 12 February 2004 - An air force worth fighting for
Australian Financial Review - 1 July  2004 - Turbulence hits choice of Joint Strike Fighter
Australian Aviation  - April 2004 - Is the Joint Strike Fighter Right for Australia? Pt.1 [PDF]
Australian Aviation  - May 2004 - Is the Joint Strike Fighter Right for Australia? Pt.2 [PDF]
Australian Aviation  - April/May 1991 - The Advanced Tactical Fighter
Air & Space Power Chronicles, Maxwell AFB - July 2000 - EXPANDING THE ENVELOPE - Stealth and Other Strike Roles, Mirror@APA
Kopp C., May  1998 - Replacing the RAAF F/A-18 Hornet Fighter, Strategic, Operational and Technical Issues [PDF] -Submission to the Minister for Defence
Air Power International - September  1998 - JUST HOW GOOD IS THE F-22 RAPTOR? Carlo Kopp interviews F-22 Chief Test Pilot, Paul Metz
Goon P.A. -   ADA Defender - Winter 2005 - Affordability and the new air combat capability [PDF]
Defence Today - September 2005 - Fighter Programs Face Uncertain Future [PDF]
Air Power Australia - January 2007 - GBU-39/40/42 Small Diameter Bomb
Andrew McLaughlin - Australian Aviation - April 2006 - F-22 Raptor - No Longer a Fair Fight [PDF]
Air Power Australia - April 2007 - Maritime Strike using the F-22A Raptor
Defence Today - August/September - 2007 - Operating the F-22 Raptor - A 1st Fighter Wing USAF Perspective [PDF]
Defence Today - January/February - 2008 - Pacific Raptors:  F-22A based in Alaska [PDF]

Regional Capability Analyses

Air Power Australia - January 2007 - Sukhoi Flankers - The Shifting Balance of Regional Air Power
Air Power Australia - January 2007 - Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback
Air Power Australia - December 2006 - Almaz S-300PT/PS/PMU-1/2, S-400 Triumf, S-400M Samoderzhets
Air Power Australia - December 2006 -  Antey S-300V and S-300VM
Air Power Australia - January 2007 - Regional Precision Guided Munitions

The Parliamentary Debate [Click for more ...]
Related Links [Click for more ...]

F/A-22A 27th FS 1st FW May 2005
The first F-22A assigned to the 27th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Wing, Langley, Virginia, the first operational unit to fly the F-22A. The aircraft is flown by Lt. Col. James Hecker, USAF,  over Fort Monroe, Virginia, on May 12th, 2005. At full strength the 27th FS will have twenty six F-22A aircraft  (US Air Force photo).


(Lockheed-Martin Image)


An F-22A Raptor performing a test flight early February, 2007, with four GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs on board. The F-22A will carry up to eight SDBs, while retaining two AIM-120 AMRAAMs (US Air Force).


Maj. John Teichert, USAF,  of the  411th Flight Test Squadron performs the first supersonic release of the 1,000 lb GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munition over the Mojave test range, on the 14th July, 2005 (US Air Force).

F-22A with AIM-120C
The two most common misconceptions concerning the F-22A in Australia are the belief that the aircraft cannot carry external stores, and the belief that the aircraft cannot perform strike roles effectively. Both ideas are simply falsehoods without substance (U.S. Air Force photo)

F-22A launching AIM-9M
An F-22A Prototype launching an AIM-9M missile from its left  internal bay. The aircraft has two large ventral bays for AIM-120 and guided bombs, and paired bays for short range missiles (US Air Force photo).

F-22A Nose
This portrait shows the nose chining, serrated radome boundary, and cockpit framing. The F-22A is the stealthiest high performance  fighter  ever built (US Air Force photo).

F-22A
This image shows the planform alignment of the F-22A, and especially the careful edge alignment of the thrust vectoring nozzles fitted to the F119-PW-100 supersonic cruise engine (US Air Force photo).

F-22A Edwards
A low altitude pass being flown by Edwards AFB based development aircraft #002 (US Air Force photo).

F-22A FSD
A pair of development aircraft - this image shows the chining and blending to effect (US Air Force photo).

F-22A vs F-15C
An F-15C formates on an F-22A. The F-22A was intended to replace the US Air Force F-15C, it is now likely to also replace the F-117A and F-15E (US Air Force photo).

F-22A + KC-135E
FSD Raptor 002 refuelling from a Boeing KC-135E Stratotanker. The F-22A is NOT a small fighter - it carries nearly 21,000 lb of internal fuel (US Air Force photo).

F-22A + KC-135
434th ARW KC-135 boomer's view of an F-22A taking gas (US Air Force photo).

F-22A + KC-10A
An F-22A refuels from a KC-10A Extender (US Air Force photo).

Stores Pod
Wind tunnel testing of a stealthy external stores pod, designed to carry weapons such as the GBU-39/B and GBU-40/B Small Diameter Bomb. The pylons are rated for 5,000 lb stores (US Air Force photo).

Proposed FB-22 (Artwork (c) 2003 Carlo Kopp)
The FB-22A 'regional bomber' is a enlarged derivative of the F-22A with a larger wing, proposed primarily to provide a stealthy, supercruising F-111/FB-111A class strike platform (U.S. Air Force original)



YF-23A during Dem/Val Trials
The unsuccessful competitor in the Advanced Tactical Fighter bid was Northrop's YF-23A, which continues to set the benchmark for speed and low observables shaping in second generation stealth fighters. Note the low observable cooled exhaust troughs  (U.S. Air Force photo)



Artwork, graphic design, layout and text © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Carlo Kopp; Text © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Peter Goon; All rights reserved.
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