foreign
the new F-22 Raptor after upgrade shocked the world
the service seeks to phase out a total of 33 of its oldest f-22s these jets are apparently
not combat capable anymore and are used only for training purposes the cost of getting these f-22s
ready for combat according to Major General James pescia the Air Force's Deputy assistant
secretary for Budget will be 1.8 billion dollars over eight years which is astronomically High
the USAF decided to divert those funds for research on cutting-edge combat jet designs
as part of the ng-80 program furthermore the requested budget which includes funding for
ngad would rise by 9 billion dollars the F-22 Raptor Fleet will be replaced by this sixth
generation fighter aircraft in the coming years the F-22 Raptor took to the skies for the first
time on September 7th 1997 and emerged as the first fifth generation fighter jet the Raptor
continues to be the most powerful air dominance fighter of the U.S Air Force along with the 4th
gen F-15 the F-22 Raptor marks a Quantum Leap in terms of War fighting capabilities thanks to its
combination of stealth supercruise maneuverability integrated avionics and increased supportability
the Raptor is capable of executing air-to-air and air-to-ground operations enabling the
complete fulfillment of operational Concepts essential to the Air Force
in the 21st century the F-22 an important component of the global strike task force
is designed to project air superiority quickly and across greater distances today marks the
25th anniversary of the F-22 Raptors first flight the F-22 is pictured in this Innovation quarterly
magazine spread with the first 757 built and modified to serve as a flying test bed the
757 still routinely tests alongside Raptors previously the U.S Air Force also noted that
this year marked the 25th anniversary of the F-22 Raptor the aircraft routinely delivered
America and its allies fifth generation air superiority USAF said in a statement the F-16
Fighting Falcon and other 4th generation aircraft were escorted by F-22 fighter jets over the joint
Pacific Alaska range complex as they flew in offensive and defensive counter-air formations
the F-22 was initially intended to replace the F-15 but only 25 percent of initially
planned airframes were ever built with orders to end production being given less than four
years after the fighter entered service where a primarily feeling of the F-22 was its excessive
maintenance requirements and operational costs should the FX be able to have lower
operational costs perhaps comparable to the F-15 this could help to reduce its lifetime
operational expenses considerably and make it more affordable despite its multi-million dollar
acquisition cost with operational costs over a Fighter's lifetime usually being several times
as high as their acquisition costs trans set in recent years by the American defense sector
however strongly indicate that the FX will be expensive to operate unless its development is
approached very differently from other post-cold War programs such as the B2 bomber F-22 and F-35
system of systems the sixth generation fighter jet will be part of an integrated ngad system of
systems it means this will include unmanned drones manned Jets and a new generation of
networking Technologies Air Force secretary Frank Kendall recently explained ngad must be more than
just the next crude fighter jet it's a program that will include a crude platform teams with
much less expensive autonomous uncrewed combat aircraft employing a distributed tailorable mix
of sensors weapons and other Mission equipment operating as a team or formation thank you
human faculties on the other hand are especially suitable for more subjective
variables like emotion intuition and evaluating several aspects in connection to one another
in short the ngad platform will be capable of having a fighter jet with increased speed
maneuverability stealth technology and AI enabled data processing moreover the
Air Force has already achieved significant Headway in its Endeavors to deploy a loyal
wingman drone alongside a manned fighter jet this could potentially enable ngad
to operate a drone by its side and will complement the F-35 Fleet in near future
the nged program
the U.S Air Force disclosed in 2020 that it had designed produced and tested a top secret fighter
plane in just one year the Intriguing fighter is part of the Air Force's ngad program which
aims to eventually replace the F-22 Raptor Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles
Q Brown Jr had testified before the house armed services Committee in connection with
the fiscal 2022 budget saying that there could be two variants of ngad one with long-range missions
for the indo-pacific and the other with shorter ranges between possible battle areas in Europe
he stressed that the aircraft's primary Mission will be air dominance but that it will also be
able to hit ground targets Brown mentioned that the U.S Air Force intends to downsize its Fighter
Jet Force to only four types of aircraft the F-35 f-15ex F-16 and the ngad the aircraft shown is a
big diamond-shaped fighter jet with massive Engine air intakes extending to the left and right of the
cockpit protected from radar from underneath the plane has two engines a bubble canopy cockpit and
two vertical stabilizers that can be folded flat into the wings when not in use the Prototype of
the secret stealth fighter jet was apparently built using digital engineering Technologies
to drastically reduce the time it takes to develop a new aircraft virtual modeling and
simulation tools are used in digital engineering digital engineering may play a role in ngad's
to quickly absorb new complicated enhancements F-22 Raptor development history
the Raptor delivers a combination of stealth speed mobility and powerful war fighting qualities and
is propelled by two Pratt and Whitney f-119 engines various sensors and extremely lethal
weapons ensure air dominance assisting the mission in the 1990s Boeing and Lockheed
Martin collaborated to design and develop the F-22 a highly sophisticated tactical Fighter
the F-22 was designed to take the place of the F-15 as the Frontline Fighter for American Air
dominance on April 9 1997 Lockheed Martin Boeing and Pratt and Whitney conducted the
rollout defense for the first F-22 in production was launched that was one of the nine pliable
f-22s built for flight testing the F-22 entered service in 2005 and was awarded the prestigious
Collier trophy for 2006. however in the years that followed there is debate regarding its operational
and maintenance related issues furthermore the next generation of Soviet Fighters which
were meant to dominate aerial combat was never developed after the fall of the Soviet Union in
April 2009 the U.S Department of Defense announced that production of the F-22 would stop at 187
aircraft the final F-22 was delivered to the Air Force in 2012. nonetheless 186 f-22s are
in service only a fourth of what the Pentagon anticipated would require According to some
estimations more than half of those might be Mission capable meanwhile the Air Force plans
to retire 33 block 20 F-22 aircraft because they are primarily used for training and lack
combat Readiness the Eurasian times had earlier reported that preparing the f-22s for a combat
would cost 1.8 billion dollars over eight years which is an astronomical some the Raptor Fleet
will be down to 153 aircraft if all retirements are approved the Air Force does not plan on
retiring any more f-22s until the next Generation air dominance program is ready to take its place