Description
The Lockheed F-22 Raptor is an American air superiority fighter with highly developed ground attack capabilities as well as electronic warfare and electronic watch. The F-22 was in April 1991 the winner of the competition announced by the USAAF for the Advanced Tactical Fighter, which dates back to 1981. It was then that a $ 12 billion program was launched and the construction of a highly maneuverable, indirectly controlled, Stealth fighter began. The US Navy joined the program in April 1986, hoping to build a successor to the F-14 Tomcat. Later that year, the Department of Defense announced that Lockheed and Northrop had advanced to the next stage. Each of the companies was to build a prototype, designated YF-22 and YF-23, respectively. From then on, Lockheed joined forces with Boeing and General Dynamics, which later resulted in the division of work on serial aircraft between the Boeing and Lockheed plants. The first prototype of the YF-22 was called 87-3997 / N22YF and was equipped with newly constructed General Electric YF120 engines. The flight of the plane took place on September 29, 1990. Shortly thereafter, on October 30, 1990, a second 87-3998 / N22YF prototype was flown, powered by an alternative Pratt-Whitney YF119 engine. After a careful comparison of the parameters with the competing YF-23 by the Northrop / McDonnell Douglas team, it was announced that the winner of the competition was the YF-22 with the YF119 engine. The design of the final version of the F-22A was frozen in March 1992. The differences compared to the prototype included an increase in the wingspan of a trapezoidal shape to 13.59 m, which, however, did not increase the wing surface, a reduction in the thickness of the wing profile at the root and its twisting, which ensured better controllability of the aircraft in terms of supersonic speeds. The area of the double vertical tail was also reduced to 27.2 m2. The Lockheed F-22 Raptor is one of the first, if not the only, fifth generation fighter in the world. Thanks to the use of a completely new power unit (two Pratt-Whitney F119-PW-100 engines with vector thrust) and low aerodynamic resistance, the speed of the F-22 - according to unofficial data - exceeds 2.4Ma. In addition, it is highly maneuverable, which allows you to perform such acrobatic figures as, for example, the Pugacheva cobra or Kulbit. Another important feature of the F-22 is the Stealth technology, however, based less than the F-117 on RAM, and more on the aerodynamic excellence, overall shape of the airframe and refined exterior details. The exact radar view (RCS), however, is still classified. It is also very important to use the highly innovative AN / APG-77 radar, thanks to which it is possible to detect objects from about 250 km. Moreover, this radar enables the F-22 to act as a 'mini-AWACS' aircraft, which significantly increases the combat capabilities of the strike teams with this aircraft. AN / APG-77 can also be used to attack the enemy's electronic radar and overload his sensors. Production of the F-22 ended in 2011, with the production of 187 serial aircraft, with Lockheed obliged to maintain the production lines and facilities. Due to its technological advancement, the F-22 is not exported.
