F/A-22 Secrets Revealed

• alert5

  24 May 04, 18:55

  F/A-22 Secrets Revealed
  
  With long-term military budget cuts looming once again, the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are finally talking about some of the F/A-22 Raptor's closely held secrets that they hope will keep Congress paying for the $132-million stealth aircraft.
  
  While these conversations, many of them informal, didn't touch on "even one-third of its classified capabilities," according to one pilot, they included the ability to hunt down and destroy cruise missiles well behind enemy lines, the introduction of a new missile that allows the head-on attack and destruction of stealthy enemy missiles, a tailless bomber derivative design, a planned electronic attack capability so powerful that it actually damages enemy electronics, and modifications that would allow the aircraft's electronic package to invade enemy computer networks.
  
  The tone of the conversations was sharpened by a still-unreleased report about the series of air combat training engagements earlier this year between Indian air force Su-30MKs and F-15Cs from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; the latter were equipped with the U.S.' newest long-range, high-definition radars.
• ferret69

  24 May 04, 20:08

  Good article, thanks. Half a surprise to see the SU-30s do very well in long range engagements vs F-15s. What was more surprising was the statement that Indian Air Force pilots had more flight time than USAF pilots. Could we be on the verge of the decline of expertise in US pilots? Just a thought; it's happened before (early portion of Vietnam conflict being the best example), it could happen again.
• ZermanAUG3

  24 May 04, 22:10

  Probably they need more funding since more countries are developing advanced IRST capabilities which could track down stealthy designed aircraft like the Raptor.
• deathscythe99

  24 May 04, 22:28

  Well....with the increasing technologies applied by other countries, could there be a lack of funding by the US govt to do enough research to combat the growing interest in military technology by other countries?
  
  I think it would require another Cold War scenario for increased fundings...
  
  Remember tt it was during tt time tt many inventions were made possible...
• storywolf

  24 May 04, 22:44

  Originally posted by alert5:

  F/A-22 Secrets Revealed
  
  With long-term military budget cuts looming once again, the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are finally talking about some of the F/A-22 Raptor's closely held secrets that they hope will keep Congress paying for the $132-million stealth aircraft.
  
  While these conversations, many of them informal, didn't touch on "even one-third of its classified capabilities," according to one pilot, they included the ability to hunt down and destroy cruise missiles well behind enemy lines, the introduction of a new missile that allows the head-on attack and destruction of stealthy enemy missiles, a tailless bomber derivative design, a planned electronic attack capability so powerful that it actually damages enemy electronics, and modifications that would allow the aircraft's electronic package to invade enemy computer networks.
  
  The tone of the conversations was sharpened by a still-unreleased report about the series of air combat training engagements earlier this year between Indian air force Su-30MKs and F-15Cs from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; the latter were equipped with the U.S.' newest long-range, high-definition radars.

  Sound good, but don't be surprise, they may not be working as well in real life or achieve less than promise result. More like desperate sale talks.
• cavsg

  26 May 04, 14:41

  the poor showing of APG-63(V)1 in india will affect the F-15T singapore selection. RSAF will want to test out with IAF using our F-16 this october. and with the negative reports about typhoon in RAF service, rafale is the leading contender now.
• storywolf

  27 May 04, 01:48

  Originally posted by cavsg:

  the poor showing of APG-63(V)1 in india will affect the F-15T singapore selection. RSAF will want to test out with IAF using our F-16 this october. and with the negative reports about typhoon in RAF service, rafale is the leading contender now.

  Yeap think Rafale is the best buy and most cost effective of the lot. Maybe we should just buy the airframe from Russia, and put in western engine and aviontics ourselves. Think we 1st create a super new type of SU27 , also lots of orders will come for this cheap but cheaper option in aircrafts
• |-|05|

  27 May 04, 15:00

  Originally posted by storywolf:

  Yeap think Rafale is the best buy and most cost effective of the lot. Maybe we should just buy the airframe from Russia, and put in western engine and aviontics ourselves. Think we 1st create a super new type of SU27 , also lots of orders will come for this cheap but cheaper option in aircrafts

  but from what i know the Rafale engine is pretty under powered....
• chunyong

  27 May 04, 15:29

  Originally posted by storywolf:

  Yeap think Rafale is the best buy and most cost effective of the lot. Maybe we should just buy the airframe from Russia, and put in western engine and aviontics ourselves. Think we 1st create a super new type of SU27 , also lots of orders will come for this cheap but cheaper option in aircrafts

  wah, majiam area00 siah...heh