An F-22 Raptor belonging to Edwards Air Force Base's 411th Test and Evaluation Squadron
has been seen flying equipped with what appears to be stealthy enclosures attached to its
under-wing hardpoints.
The images of the Raptor in question — serial number 06-0132 — were shot by aviation photographer
James Reeder, who goes by @boreeder on Instagram, at the U.S Air Force's Plant 42 facility in
Palmdale, California.
Viewers may note that Plant 42 also is home to Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works advanced
projects division, which originally developed the Raptor.
This is the first time ever that the Raptor has been seen flying with such a unique attachment.
It is likely that the attachment is an IRST or Infrared Search and Track pod.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how IRST pod could provide the F-22 Raptor with
a crucial combat edge?
Let's get started.
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F-22 Raptor is a fifth-generation, single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical
fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force by defense major Lockheed
Martin.
It was developed as part of the Advanced Tactical Fighter program intended to counter the latest
Soviet threats from the 1990s and beyond.
While the Raptor entered service in 2005, it is still considered the best and is well
ahead of the Russian Su-57 and Chinese J-20 in overall capabilities.
Even today, it can't be exported under American federal law to protect its stealth technology
& other high-tech features clearly indicating that it has many closely guarded secrets.
But obviously, rivals of the U.S. have made significant progress to close the gap in certain
aspects.
As evident, the US Air Force is not sitting idle and the F-22 will be upgraded with new
capabilities.
IRST system is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation
such as jet aircraft and helicopters.
An IRST system may also have a regular magnified optical sight slaved to it, to help the IRST
equipped aircraft identify the target at long range.
As opposed to an ordinary forward-looking infrared system, an IRST system will actually
scan the space around the aircraft similar to the way in which mechanically (or even
electronically) steered radars work.
The exception to the scanning technique is the F-35's Distributed Aperture System, which
stares in all directions simultaneously, and automatically detects and identifies aircraft
and missiles in all directions, without a limit to the number of targets simultaneously
tracked.
In certain scenarios, especially against stealthy aircraft, IRST may outperform the main radar.
The F-22 Raptor has no IRST sensor.
Su-57 houses an IRST sensor at the base of its windscreen, providing it with another
option with which to detect enemy aircraft apart from the radar system.
The Su-57 is speculated to have the ability to detect ‘stealth’ aircraft and track
over 10 targets simultaneously using its IRST sensor.
Chengdu J-20 system has 360-degree IRST coverage
Ken Merchant, who was then Lockheed’s vice president for the F-22 program, told Air Force
Magazine in 2017 that “we really don’t have the real estate” to fit an internal
IRST in the jet, at least in an installation comparable to the Electro-Optical Targeting
System (EOTS) in the F-35.
Merchant said at the time, “We’re looking at other options”
While even a stealthy external pod would increase the RCS of the F-22, it will still be the
lowest observable fighter in the world.
Lockheed Martin and the US Air Force would surely have considered this compromise.
F-22 has an RCS or Radar Cross Section of only 0.0001 m2 while F-35 Lightning II has
an RCS of 0.005 m2.
As per some analysis, Su-57 has an RCS of 0.05 m2 which makes it around 500 times larger
on the radar when compared to F-22 and at least 10 times larger when compared to F-35.
Aviation photographer Santos Caceres had earlier caught another interesting-looking U.S. Air
Force F-22 Raptor in his camera as it flew out of Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada on
the morning of Nov. 19, 2021.
The aircraft was covered in a tile-like reflective metallic coating that is unlike anything we
have seen on a Raptor before.
Importantly it didn't look like it was for temporary use, the coating seems to have been
carefully installed to not obstruct the Raptor's many key access points like sensors and antennas.
Some reports indicate that the covering is of a special material that is capable of masking
the aircraft's infrared signature to enemy eyes.
The system could avoid detection by allowing the aircraft to mimic the temperature of their
surroundings to suit varying scenarios.
All in all, it can be stated that the Raptor is being upgraded to make it less detectable
by IR signature while adding the capability of using the same tech to detect enemy aircraft.