F-22 Thread

[mikoyan]

the f-15se my be a hot deal since it would have some of the good stuff from the f-22 and lets be realistic how many countries are going to have stealth aircrafts? the f-15se may be about enough to deal with eurofighters rafales, su-35s and older aircrafts. I'm a bit disappointed with boing since they didn't go deeper in the modifications to the eagle. I felt the same (a 100 times worst) when they came up with yf-32; how come they got all that engineering wisdom from Douglas to came up with that?

[mvsgas]

F-22 Design Evolution, Part I

F-22 Design Evolution, Part II

[Krippz]

F-22 Design Evolution, Part I

F-22 Design Evolution, Part II

 

Fascinating article. Thanks for sharing!

[Antartis]

Lockheed Martin confirms the US Air Force has decided to retain tooling for the F-22 after the production line in Marietta, Georgia, shuts down as scheduled in 2012.

The decision means that USAF officials will be able to repair and modernise the service's aircraft, or manufacture new Raptors.

Lockheed says tools with "near-term needs" will be retained on site. Others will be preserved and stored in large, bar-coded steel containers commonly used by the shipping industry, which it says reduces "costs associated with conventional warehousing".

Air force officials were not immediately available to comment, but have previously said that a decision to preserve F-22 tooling would be intended to support a future service life-extension programme for the stealth fighter.

 

© BillyPix

 

At the same time, the decision also implicitly preserves the option to restart production if future administrations decide that the USAF needs more than 186 F-22s.

Congress in 2009 approved the Obama administration's decision not to extend F-22 production beyond the programme of record set by the Bush administration in 2006. But the Congressional approval came only after several months of heated debate.

Meanwhile, Rand's Project Air Force analytical group published a study on 3 March showing that the F-22 supply chain could be reactivated after a two-year gap. Rand studied not only the availability of tooling, but also whether key suppliers could leave the industry within this period of time.

However, Rand concluded that restarting production after a two-year work stoppage would significantly increase costs.

Assuming a 75-aircraft production run over five years, it found the cost per aircraft would be $227 million. If production continued without interruption, the average unit cost would be $173 million.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/30/345519/lockheed-to-preserve-f-22-tooling-for-future-use.html

[tflash]

Now that at least makes some sense. The whole idea they would ditch the F-22 alltogether after only a ten-year production run is highly questionable, if you imagine how much it took to design this magnificent aircraft in the first place. Once you can produce it, it seems logical to me you might want to keep that capability at least until you have something definitely better.

[mvsgas]

Raptor Reorganization

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/news_item.html?item_id=112

 

http://www.holloman.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123215576

 

http://www.langley.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123215720

Edited August 4, 2010 by mvsgas

[GGTharos]

If you think about it it is the best way to get the missile out of the way or a rolling F-22 in both positive and negative g :)

 

More importantly it gets the seeker head farther away from the fuselage, thus suffering from less oclusion.

[bumfire]

Interesting ^^

 

 

Whats that wires extruding from the bays ???

 

what are they for if it isnt classified.

[59th_LeFty]

Top Secret Photoshop VHF antennae :)

[Pilotasso]

Inside the bay all the wires are sheltered from the smash. The sidewinders are canted sideways for missile clearance at launch and as GG explained also clears missiles seeker from fuselage obstruction, plus you also gain a few extra degrees off boresight.

[bumfire]

ah, I did read his answer but still didnt put 2 and 2 together :)

[Groove]

F-22 ripple drop of four SDB's:

 

[LaRata]

NICE :)

 

A 300 millon US $ , Drop 4 x Small 250 lbs Bombs , like WW 2 Attack Plane .

 

LaRata

[GGTharos]

4 250lbs bombs which will fly 40-60nm to target to attack it from a pre-defined azimuth, a pre-defined impact angle at a nearly perfect 0 degree AoA to maximize penetration where required and do the equivalent damage of a 2000lbs bomb to four separate, possibly widely spaced apart targets.

 

What about this is like WW2?

[robmlufc]

Has f22 been used in anger yet? Is it all passed out for ground attack?

[mvsgas]

Interesting ^^

 

 

I know this is old but;

AFAIK, AIM-9 missiles (any version) can't be thrown away from the aircraft like AIM-7/54/120, the need to move forward on a rail.

That is why the missile rails move outboard like that.

[LaRata]

4 x 250 perfect Hit on Heavy Protected Target do very limited Damaged. But make a lot of noise ...

 

Some Heavy Target were hit by 5,000lbs in Yugoslavya. After the War Mig-21 come and fly from this suposed destroyed Taget.

 

LaRata

[GGTharos]

Yes, it will do 'limited damage' in that it will not blow up the city block. It will however penetrate bunkers and destroy aircraft or equipment parked within. This has already been tested and proven.

 

To hit the same target in WW2 you would have needed 20 bombers dropping all their bombs and hope for a hit.

 

As for 'MiG-21 come and fly from this destroyed target', I wouldn't be surprise if the GBU-28 cannot penetrate a very deep bunker. There are limits for everything. On the other hand, most of your stuff won't be hiding in such bunkers - instead, those SDBS will sweep your SAMs, your fuel depots, tooling, hangars, control towers, power stations, and so on and so forth.

 

So what about it is like WW2?

 

4 x 250 perfect Hit on Heavy Protected Target do very limited Damaged. But make a lot of noise ...

 

Some Heavy Target were hit by 5,000lbs in Yugoslavya. After the War Mig-21 come and fly from this suposed destroyed Taget.

 

LaRata

Edited November 2, 2010 by GGTharos

[topol-m]

Maybe he meant that bombs are so WW2ish, perhaps if they equip the raptor with lasers and plasma weapons it will become a modern fighter jet? :D

[GGTharos]

You think it's funny, but there's already a laser package being planned for the F-35! ;)

[topol-m]

You think it's funny, but there's already a laser package being planned for the F-35! ;)

 

Seriously? Isn`t it too small to carry a laser, and what would it use it for? Point defense maybe?

[GGTharos]

I don't recall all the details - yes, there are problems due to miniaturization and heat, there is a limit of the number of shots it can take and how often it can take them. The package is supposed to fit in and take up the entire weapon bay.

 

Let's say it is in prototype stage.

[topol-m]

Well that`s interesting. In few decades with the speed lasers are improving in terms of power, miniaturization, cost, etc. we might even see a decrease in AAM`s effectiveness, but then again anti-laser coating is improving too... I like Sci-fi in reality

[robmlufc]

Is that the Block 4 'Dome' i've heard a bit about or is that just a designator?

[GGTharos]

I don't know. I saw a lot of interesting things on several US fighters lately, most of which were not explained (I asked, too) ... something's going on with the US aircraft fleet in terms of avionics and electronic warfare. All of'em, from F-15's, F-18Es to F-22s ... but no one's talking :D