Topic: USAF Declares Initial Operational Capability For Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor 2

godofthunder9010 · December 21st, 2005

Hurray for yet another repeat of the same topic. This one, however, wins the prize for most descriptive title for the announcment.

Yeah, I'm greatly looking forward to seeing more and more of the Raptor. We're entering a period where the USA will have the best fighter in the world by a substantial margin (until somebody invents and mass produces something comparable.) It should also be interesting to hear about if there are any bugs or flaws to work out of the system. Many such things seldom become obvious until a fighter is put into service.

So what's the ETA on the JSF?

Chief Bones · December 23rd, 2005

An Air Force friend of my son's is visiting my son for Christmas. What's unusual about this is the fact that he just came from the F22A Raptor test site.

He volunteered for service in Afghanistan in a "general" billet but was hoping that he'd be able to swing transfer to a Raptor "line" unit at the completion of his Afghan tour. At present, according to him, there are three sites that have operational F22A Raptors and there are still four Raptors at the test site.

We were talking about some of the "unclassified" capabilities of the F22A and the following was some of the information he imparted:

Every single test phase of the combat capabilities of the Raptor were exceeded by such a large margin, that even some of the Raptor's most ardent supporters were astonished and some of the naysayers were won over.

One of the tests placed F16s at various altitudes with some of the most modern weapons radars and expert operators on the ground. Consistently, radar operators on the ground were able to spot, identify and target the F15s - not once did the operators manage to do more than get an intermittent blip of an F22A Raptor on their radar screens. (The Raptor had to be almost on top of a radar site and almost "on-the-deck" before a clear paint was observed on the radar screens).

It was almost a repeat when the F15s were pitted against F22As. Pilots of the F15s had so much trouble spotting F22As that they were constantly having to rely on the Mod 1 Eyeball for detection - their radars just weren't doing the job.

What makes the Raptor so radar invisible, is the fact that the weapons load is internal instead of being hung on the underside of the plane body and wing structure and that makes the body as slick as a baby's bottom. (I know it's more complex than that).

The Raptor's weapons load was described as being just as deadly as the payload of an F15.

Follow on "post test" verifications will be carried out as the operational tempo increases for the line units. As was pointed out - operational tempos have a tendency to bring out bugs that were missed during testing and clearly demonstrate the need for post test verifications.

The F22A Raptor has been described as an airborne weapons platform of tomorrow that is here today.

FROM THIS CONVERSATION - I WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO DISAGREE.

I tried to impart this as accurately as I could but was unable to find verification as to the accuracy of the information

PJ24 · February 13th, 2006

I love this plane, it is truly a thing of beauty. The only thing bad I can really say about it is: Too expensive. I don't think we need as many as planned. CAS - low and slow, remember it head honchos! And that's not really a knock on the plane, just how it is misused.

Damien435 · February 16th, 2006

I think what the Air Force really wants to do is put the F-15 into a close air support role while adopting the F-22 as the chief air superiority fighter.

Having said that don't listen to me, I don't actually have a clue what I am talking about, but dammit it sounded cool.

Rabs · February 16th, 2006

Quote:

I think what the Air Force really wants to do is put the F-15 into a close air support role while adopting the F-22 as the chief air superiority fighter.

Having said that don't listen to me, I don't actually have a clue what I am talking about, but dammit it sounded cool.

Actually you just stated the USAF's goal.

...I think

zander_0633 · February 17th, 2006

Hey I thought the F-15 are an old group of planes? My country just ordered a huge number of F-15S from US. I heard the JSF are also to be sold to those countries that participated in the development of it!

Damien435 · February 17th, 2006

The F-15 is.... roughly 30 years old now but it is still better than anything any other nation can build, and that include Europe, Russia and China. It's now the world's second most deadly air superiority aircraft so even though it is "old" by some standards it is still a very deadly aircraft.

And as for the JSF, well, I don't hold as high of an opinion of that aircraft as I once did, I still think it is a great plane but it will be best suited for ground attack missions and right now we have a lot of planes to fill that role, I think it is a good thing for the Navy, they can finally replace the F-14 which is definetly starting to show its age, and this plane is smaller than the F-15 which is by naval fighter standards a behemoth. What I think the Airforce should do is continue to try and block Bush's in his attempts to phase out certain aircraft so as to make room for the JSF. Is there really a need to replace the F-16? Only a handful of countries can build anything to counter it. Like I said before, buy the Rapter and move the F-15 to ground attack, or have smaller numbers of F-22's and use them to knock out the enemy air defenses, then bring in the F-15's and F-16's to "mop up" the ground units.

But as I said earlier, the Air Force is not really my... forte(sp?) neither is the Navy, the only one branch I can really relate to is the Army because of the stories my grandpa told me about Korea and their version of "suicide bombers". And how the pay was like $105 a weekwith combat pay.

Doug97 · February 23rd, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien435

The F-15 is.... roughly 30 years old now but it is still better than anything any other nation can build, and that include Europe, Russia and China.

Better than the Typhoon? Why do you say that?

zander_0633 · February 24th, 2006

Well, The Euro Typhoon is an advance plane and also a plane of this Century!

Damien435 · February 24th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug97

Better than the Typhoon? Why do you say that?

Umm..... blind patiotism? America and Israel have been extensively upgrading their fleets of F-15's and America has an unparalleled ability to reach out and hit the enemy from long ranges. Umm, other than that, patriotism mostly.

Could I justify it by citing the F-15's excellent track record in Iraq and Israel?

December 21st, 2005	Post 11
godofthunder9010 Tribunus Laticlavius Gear	Hurray for yet another repeat of the same topic. This one, however, wins the prize for most descriptive title for the announcment. Yeah, I'm greatly looking forward to seeing more and more of the Raptor. We're entering a period where the USA will have the best fighter in the world by a substantial margin (until somebody invents and mass produces something comparable.) It should also be interesting to hear about if there are any bugs or flaws to work out of the system. Many such things seldom become obvious until a fighter is put into service. So what's the ETA on the JSF? __________________ "It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it." - General Robert E. Lee Warning, critical pebkac error in the iD10t!! pebkac\wtflolurpwnzd\snafuroflmao.exe called iD10t, iD10t failed to respond!! System in danger!! "It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong. I am NOT a big man." -Chevy Chase

December 23rd, 2005	Post 12
Chief Bones Forums Grumpy Old Man Gear	Post; No poopoo on this one. An Air Force friend of my son's is visiting my son for Christmas. What's unusual about this is the fact that he just came from the F22A Raptor test site. He volunteered for service in Afghanistan in a "general" billet but was hoping that he'd be able to swing transfer to a Raptor "line" unit at the completion of his Afghan tour. At present, according to him, there are three sites that have operational F22A Raptors and there are still four Raptors at the test site. We were talking about some of the "unclassified" capabilities of the F22A and the following was some of the information he imparted: Every single test phase of the combat capabilities of the Raptor were exceeded by such a large margin, that even some of the Raptor's most ardent supporters were astonished and some of the naysayers were won over. One of the tests placed F16s at various altitudes with some of the most modern weapons radars and expert operators on the ground. Consistently, radar operators on the ground were able to spot, identify and target the F15s - not once did the operators manage to do more than get an intermittent blip of an F22A Raptor on their radar screens. (The Raptor had to be almost on top of a radar site and almost "on-the-deck" before a clear paint was observed on the radar screens). It was almost a repeat when the F15s were pitted against F22As. Pilots of the F15s had so much trouble spotting F22As that they were constantly having to rely on the Mod 1 Eyeball for detection - their radars just weren't doing the job. What makes the Raptor so radar invisible, is the fact that the weapons load is internal instead of being hung on the underside of the plane body and wing structure and that makes the body as slick as a baby's bottom. (I know it's more complex than that). The Raptor's weapons load was described as being just as deadly as the payload of an F15. Follow on "post test" verifications will be carried out as the operational tempo increases for the line units. As was pointed out - operational tempos have a tendency to bring out bugs that were missed during testing and clearly demonstrate the need for post test verifications. The F22A Raptor has been described as an airborne weapons platform of tomorrow that is here today. *FROM THIS CONVERSATION - I WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO DISAGREE.* I tried to impart this as accurately as I could but was unable to find verification as to the accuracy of the information __________________ *-W.R.B. (Chief Bones) FCC(SW) USN(RET)-* Last edited by Chief Bones; December 23rd, 2005 at 12:42.

February 13th, 2006	Post 13
PJ24 Tribuni Angusticlavii Gear	I love this plane, it is truly a thing of beauty. The only thing bad I can really say about it is: Too expensive. I don't think we need as many as planned. CAS - low and slow, remember it head honchos! And that's not really a knock on the plane, just how it is misused. __________________ Ugh.

February 16th, 2006	Post 14
Damien435 Tribunus Laticlavius Gear	I think what the Air Force really wants to do is put the F-15 into a close air support role while adopting the F-22 as the chief air superiority fighter. Having said that don't listen to me, I don't actually have a clue what I am talking about, but dammit it sounded cool. __________________ Please note that 98% of what I say is my opinion and/or my "version" of the facts. Most of what I say is rumor with little to no evidence to back it up, just something I picked up somewhere. My City

February 17th, 2006	Post 16
zander_0633 Milforum Gnat Gear	Hey I thought the F-15 are an old group of planes? My country just ordered a huge number of F-15S from US. I heard the JSF are also to be sold to those countries that participated in the development of it! __________________ - Ready To Strike -

February 17th, 2006	Post 17
Damien435 Tribunus Laticlavius Gear	The F-15 is.... roughly 30 years old now but it is still better than anything any other nation can build, and that include Europe, Russia and China. It's now the world's second most deadly air superiority aircraft so even though it is "old" by some standards it is still a very deadly aircraft. And as for the JSF, well, I don't hold as high of an opinion of that aircraft as I once did, I still think it is a great plane but it will be best suited for ground attack missions and right now we have a lot of planes to fill that role, I think it is a good thing for the Navy, they can finally replace the F-14 which is definetly starting to show its age, and this plane is smaller than the F-15 which is by naval fighter standards a behemoth. What I think the Airforce should do is continue to try and block Bush's in his attempts to phase out certain aircraft so as to make room for the JSF. Is there really a need to replace the F-16? Only a handful of countries can build anything to counter it. Like I said before, buy the Rapter and move the F-15 to ground attack, or have smaller numbers of F-22's and use them to knock out the enemy air defenses, then bring in the F-15's and F-16's to "mop up" the ground units. But as I said earlier, the Air Force is not really my... forte(sp?) neither is the Navy, the only one branch I can really relate to is the Army because of the stories my grandpa told me about Korea and their version of "suicide bombers". And how the pay was like $105 a weekwith combat pay.

February 24th, 2006	Post 19
zander_0633 Milforum Gnat Gear	Well, The Euro Typhoon is an advance plane and also a plane of this Century!

Topic: USAF Declares Initial Operational Capability For Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor 2

Post; No poopoo on this one.