The United States Air Force (USAF)
F-22A Raptor
has only been in operational service for a little over a year now, but the
advanced fighter aircraft is already shaping up to be quite a formidable weapon
in the skies. The F-22 can supercruise (achieve supersonic speeds without
afterburner) at Mach 1.58 and has a top speed of Mach 2+ thanks to its twin
Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan engines.
Over the past year, F-22s have partaken in a number of simulated "wargames"
to display the capabilities of the aircraft. In one two-week excursion in
Alaska, designated Northern Edge, the "Blue Air" team which was led by F-22s
simply obliterated its "Red Air" threat.
The Red Air threat was compromised of a number of previous generation Air Force
and Navy aircraft including the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18 Super Hornet. During the
exercise, in which more than 40 aircraft littered the skies, the Blue Team
achieved a remarkable 241-to-2 kill ratio. It should be noted, however, that the
2 aircraft lost on the Blue Team were F-15C aircraft and not the F-22s.
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