Lockheed’s first full-production stealth fighter aircraft, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, surfaced in the late ’90s. Entering service in 2003, the F-22 continues in service today as the most advanced direct aerial attack fighter jet in the U.S. fleet. Powering the F-22 are a pair of Pratt and Whitney turbofan engines pushing the aircraft to Mach 2, allowing for extended supersonic flight without afterburners thanks to supercruise, a fuel-efficient method of sustained high-speed flight that facilitates sustained Mach 1.58 flight longer than most, if not all, comparable aircraft. Furthermore, the dual jet engines use thrust vectoring nozzles to aid in turning, making the Raptor among the most agile aircraft in the skies.
When the F-22 entered service, it followed the F-117 Nighthawk and S-2 Spirit stealth aircraft, but was the first multi-role fighter designed with a more traditional airframe adapted to stealth technology. Its primary foreign competitors are the Russian Su-57 Felon and China’s Chengdu J-20, however, the F-22 radar cross-section is up to 800 times smaller than the latter and an embarrassing (for Russia) 5,000 times smaller than the former. Many consider the F-22 Raptor to be the finest flying fighter in the world with no equivalent rivals in service today. While possible, its production was canceled in 2009 after only a couple of hundred units were built. It has been mostly supplanted by the F-35.
While the F-22’s aerial combat capabilities outflank the F-35, that aircraft’s other capabilities, such as communications, make for an aircraft with more versatility better suited to long-term plans from the Department of Defense (DoD). Nonetheless, those Raptors currently in service are years away from retirement, and will remain in the elite aerial fighting forces for as long as they are useful to the American Military.
