F-22 Ready

AI.04.1430

Robert F Dorr explains why the US Air Force has developed a new-found confi dence in its F-22 Raptor superfi ghter after its fi rst decade in service

Risingto the ChallengeRisingto the ChallengeRising

F-22 RAPTOR MILITARY

31AI.04.14

The F-22 Raptor pilot who deems himself an optimist sees 2014 as the year when bounty will ow in the form of capabilities that pilots of other ghters took for granted years ago. Long promised is a helmet-mounted cueing system to expand the

Raptors potential to aim and deploy missiles. Also possible but less likely is a datalink to permit exchanging images with other friendly ghters. A Pentagon programme document

appears to pledge that both systems will be in cockpits by years end but pilots may still be waiting when that juncture arrives.

Modern-day problems associated with the sleek, bat-winged F-22 as distinguished from problems that occurred during its development are less troubling than the issues of the past because the Raptor appears, at long last, on the verge of ful lling its promise. In terms of aerodynamics, stealth, avionics and sheer lethality, the F-22 is the best combat platform in the world. Its adherents say no other ghter can touch it. Problems with its oxygen system appear to be history, a new way of deploying

the aircraft is proving itself, and Raptor pilots are feeling new con dence in their super ghter and in themselves.

This is the Raptors time.When US leaders need a silver bullet

in a crisis as happened last year when Iranian ghters intercepted an American drone the F-22 is ready to show up. The Raptor is, nally, after years of hope and promise, at the top of its game.

Rudiments of the RaptorBefore looking at current issues facing the Raptor community, its a good idea to review

Risingto the ChallengeRisingto the ChallengeRising

All im

ages Jim H

aseltine

25

MILITARY F-22 RAPTOR

AI.04.1432

the basics of the aircraft.Two 35,000lb static thrust (156kN) Pratt

& Whitney F119-100 engines provide the power for the Raptor. Most of the worlds major fighters were designed to take advantage of twin-engine performance and reliability, and the F-22 is no exception. The F119-100 is a low bypass afterburning turbofan engine. It is the first fighter aircraft engine equipped with hollow wide-chord fan blades, which are installed in the first fan stage. Thrust vectoring is controlled by a Hamilton Standard dual redundant full-authority digital engine control (FADEC).

The M61A2 Vulcan cannon is installed internally above the right air intake and uses 480 rounds of link-less 20mm ammunition, fed into the gun at a rate of 100 rounds per second. Early plans to give the F-22 a new gun instead of this familiar mainstay did not materialise. Over decades, attempts to replace the ageing but reliable M61 have foundered. As a practical matter a new cannon probably is not needed.

The term fifth generation, a marketing conceit dreamed up by the F-22s manufacturer and now widely used in the fighter world, suggests that a stealth fighter is more advanced than a fighter not designed with low observable (LO), or stealth properties. The Raptor does not use

radar absorbent material (RAM) on all of its surfaces: the material is used selectively on edges, cavities and surface discontinuities. Nevertheless, the F-22 is considered to offer full stealth, unlike the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which has a very good radar profile from the front, a less stealthy profile from the sides, and a not-so-stealthy profile from the rear quarter. The F-22 is also considered stealthier than radar-evading aircraft that preceded it, including the F-117 Nighthawk and B-2 Spirit.

Not every expert agrees that stealth is all that important. But when other aspects of the F-22s performance are taken into account, the superfighter is clearly a generation ahead of many of the worlds best-known fighter types. If the world was to witness a serious resumption of air-to-air combat something not experienced by US pilots since Vietnam the F-22 would clearly offer an advantage. The current fleet of just 184 Raptors is not large enough to have a dominant role in a full-scale peer war but is a precious resource in limited engagements with high-value adversaries.

Analysts Pierre Sprey and Jim Stevenson at a conference in Washington last December described the situation by calling the F-22 the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe of its time. The Me 262 entered combat in World

War Two far superior in performance to any allied fighter it might encounter. Yet only about 200 Me 262s, a fleet the size of the F-22s, were fully operational at any given time and they were swept from the skies by more than 2,000 P-47 Thunderbolts, P-51 Mustangs and Hawker Tempests. One key issue with the Me 262, and now arising with the F-22, is insufficient flying time for pilot proficiency. Air force chief of staff Gen Mark Welsh warned in November 2013 that because of the ongoing budget crunch flying hours for all types might be reduced by 15% in 2014.

Okay with OBOGSA brief and very real, but somewhat overblown scandal, concerning the Raptors On Board Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS) has been left behind, Pentagon officials told AIR International. Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning (the services civilian boss until Deborah Lee James became Air Force Secretary last December 20) presented a management award to retired Maj Gen Charles Lyon last November 18 for his leadership and tenacity saying Lyon found the root cause of F-22 life support anomalies and brought the Raptor back to flying status after a prolonged grounding. Lyon said the cockpit problems

143

6 7

AI.04.14 33


1 An F-22 Raptor dispenses a flare used for self-protection against infrared-guided missiles. 2 Air Force Reserve Commands 44th Fighter Group is a reserve associate unit to Air Combat Commands 49th Wing. 3&4 F-22 Raptors from the Langley-based 1st Fighter Wing at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, during a temporary duty deployment to the South China Sea super base. 5 A Raptor pilot taxies his silvery Raptor painted in the Have Glass colour scheme on to the end of runway ramp at Holloman Air Force Base. 6 An airman signals to the pilot to apply the brakes, ready for the chocks to be placed against the main wheels for final checks, on the end of runway ramp at Holloman. 7 An airman pulls a pair of chocks out to the end of runway ramp to park the jet during final checks before take-off.

AI.04.1434


AI.04.14 35

were caused not by a single issue but by a mosaic. The problems reside in the cockpit, he said, in the upper pressure garment, in the oxygen delivery hoses, in the quick connection points and ...in the air lter canister. Under Lyons direction, all were redesigned.

Lyon is a formidable, no-nonsense man. Now that his recommended changes are standard throughout the F-22 eet, most airmen who work on the super ghter seem to agree that the F-22s OBOGS problems have been permanently solved. It took them too long to x it, one F-22 pilot told AIR International, but they did x it.

The Pentagon maintained all along, and still does, that OBOGS was blameless in the November 16, 2010 crash that killed F-22 pilot Capt Jeffrey Haney (31) of the 525th Fighter Squadron Bulldogs at Elmendorf, Alaska. Haneys aircraft (serial number

06-4125) went down 100 miles (160km)

northeast of Anchorage. An accident board

determined that a malfunction with the

engines bleed air system caused several other systems aboard the Raptor to shut down abruptly.

Looking ahead, air force leaders and members of the F-22 community will face new challenges in the period just ahead. The maintenance-intensive F-22 costs $68,362 per hour to y, compared to $41,921 for an F-15C Eagle and $22,514 for an F-16C Fighting Falcon.

The truth is that the F-22s operating cost has been a factor ever since the rst

operational aircraft (serial number 01-4018) arrived at Tyndall Air

Force Base, Florida on September 26, 2003.

Considering the technological issues, especially those related to the

stealth coating, the operating costs seem reasonable but are still a challenge to an air force with nearly empty pockets. Worse, for reasons unclear, the dollar amount has gone up in each recent year when the maturing of the eet should have caused it to go down.

The F-22 has a mission capable rate (MCR) of 69%, compared to 73% for the F-15C and 74% for the F-16C. The average for all air force aircraft was 73% in scal year 2013. The Raptors MCR has gone down in each recent year when it should be expected to go up. This gure, too, is in uenced by the costs associated with LO materials designed to make the Raptor dif cult to detect on radar.

The purchase price of the Raptor ($163 million, not including research and development) has been an issue since the two-seat F-22B combat-capable trainer, comparable to an F-15D or F-16D, was abandoned on the drawing board back in 1996.

Cueing System and CompetitionSince the F-22 was conceived in the 1980s the prospect of equipping Raptor pilots with a helmet-mounted cueing system (HMCS) has been an on-again, off-again situation.

Pilots have long argued that without an HMCS and an off-boresight missile, they could be vulnerable in a relatively close-quarters battle a knife ght with an opposing ghter.

Early in 2013, the air force announced it was cancelling plans to integrate the Vision Systems International (VSI) Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) currently deployed on F-15C Eagles, F-15E Strike Eagles, Block 40 and Block 50 F-16C Fighting Falcons, Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, and other ghters into the F-22.

The cancellation was announced only weeks after Col Robert Novotny, commander of the 53rd Test and Evaluation Group at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, told AIR International that the JHMCS would give the Raptor rst look, rst shot capability with an off-boresight, infrared air-to-air missile like the AIM-9X Sidewinder, which is carried by other ghters but is not yet certi ed for the F-22.

Among other problems, the JHMCS simply occupies too much space in the relatively small cockpit of the F-22. It would be almost impossible to exaggerate how cramped the Raptor cockpit is in terms of headroom for the pilot. Rather than being integrated into the helmet itself, the JHMCS assembly attaches to modi ed HGU-55/P, HGU-56/P or HGU-68/P helmets, the standard models now in use with the US Air Force. Separate issues, mostly related to system integration, affect JHMCS in the F-22 context but the

F-22 RAPTOR SQUADRONS(TAIL CODES IN PARENTHESES)

Air Combat Command1st Fighter Wing, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia (FF) 27th Fighter Squadron Fighting Eagles 94th Fighter Squadron Hat in the Ring49th Wing, Holloman AFB, New Mexico (HO)The 49th Wing will lose its F-22s in 2014 7th Fighter Squadron Screamin Demons 8th Fighter Squadron Black Sheep53rd Wing, Nellis AFB, Nevada (OT) 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron Green Bats325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall AFB, Florida (TY) 43rd Fighter Squadron 95th Fighter Squadron Mr Bones

Air Force Materiel Command412th Test Wing, Edwards AFB, California (ED) 411th Flight Test Squadron

Pacifi c Air Forces3rd Wing, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska (AK) 90th Fighter Squadron Pair o Dice 525th Fighter Squadron Fighting Bulldogs15th Wing, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii (HH) 19th Fighter Squadron Gamecocks (associate to Air National Guard 199th FS)

Air National Guard192nd Fighter Wing, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia (FF) 149th Fighter Squadron, Virginia Air National Guard (associate to 1st Fighter Wing)154th Wing, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii (HH) 199th Fighter Squadron, Hawaii Air National Guard

Air Force Reserve Command44th Fighter Group, Holloman AFB, New Mexico (HO) 301st Fighter Squadron (associate to 49th Wing)477th Fighter Group, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii (HH) 302nd Fighter Squadron (associate to 199th Fighter Squadron, Hawaii Air National Guard)


AI.04.1436

main concerns are size, weight and bulk.Under proposed legislation for scal

year 2015, which begins on October 1, the air force must assess the risks of whether helmet equipment, including night vision or a helmet-mounted cueing system, can cause increased risk of death or serious injury during an emergency ejection. The amendment was introduced by Senators Mark Udall (Dem - Colorado) and Roy Blunt (Rep - Missouri) following the January 28, 2013 mishap that killed F-16C pilot Capt Lucas Gruenther of the 510th Fighter Squadron, 31st Fighter Wing near Aviano Air Base, Italy. During a night ight in inclement weather, Gruenther, piloting a Block 42 F-16C (serial number 88-0510) became spatially disoriented and ejected while ying at 560 knots. He was wearing helmet equipment when he ejected, and was killed by a 40G snapback when his drogue chute deployed. The Aviano incident has raised concerns about adequate protection for pilots wearing advanced types of helmet and other helmet-mounted equipment that might not have been in use when the ejection seats were designed, Udalls spokesman James Owens told reporters. Gruenther was apparently wearing JHMCS, which is standard for F-16s at Block 40 and higher.

Raptor pilots refer to JHMCS as a full helmet-mounted cueing system. They speak of a partial system when the discussion turns to the Visionix Scorpion HMCS in its essence, a monocle and its full-colour paddle display. Scorpion is intended to be installed on standard issue helmets and is fully compatible with standard US ight equipment without special tting.

Last November, the air force said it was preparing a demonstration of Scorpion with the F-22. Today, Scorpion is undergoing evaluation with the Raptor by the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. For the F-22, Scorpion is viewed (by pilots) as a compromise, yet it too adds suf cient bulk to the helmet to mean that some pilots are going to be bumping their heads on the canopy. The system does have one advantage: it is already in use on all A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command Block 25, 30 and 32 F-16C and F-16D Fighting Falcons. The F-22 force includes an Air National Guard squadron in Hawaii that owns its own aircraft and another that enjoys associate status with the active duty force in Virginia; former F-16 pilots assigned to the two squadrons have experience with Scorpion and should become accustomed to it easily.

The US is not alone in elding HMCS, off-boresight missiles, or so-called fth-generation ghters although no other country has an operational fth-generation jet so far.

The F-22 has had company since January 29, 2010, when Russias prototype PAK-FA stealth ghter, the Sukhoi T-50, took off from Komsomolsk-on-Amur for a 47-minute maiden ight in the hands of Sukhoi test pilot Sergey Bogdan. Five aircraft in this series were ying at press time and Russian authorities say the ghter will enter service in 2016. Russia has two other stealth ghter designs under development.

Chinas Chengdu J-20 made its rst ight on January 11, 2011 (see Chinas Mighty

Dragon, p40-45). A second high-tech ghter, the Shenyang J-31, rst ew on October 31, 2012. China remains largely dependent on Russian assistance for engines and for certain avionics. While neither Russia nor China faces the political pressure that halted F-22 production too soon or budgetary issues that may limit F-22 operations, the other two superpowers are clearly playing catch-up. What isnt clear is whether they place the same importance on stealth and other fth-generation technologies as the Pentagon does.

Many in the F-22 community say their ghter is so good, and its potential for defeating the foe beyond visual range so great, that a HMCS neednt be a game-changing issue. For most purposes, the head-up display (HUD) on the F-22 enables the pilot to employ missiles in a wide range of situations in a battle. Thus, the Raptor pilot can dominate the engagement without ever having to worry about getting eyeball-to-eyeball with the enemy. In contrast, the F-35 has no HUD and the Gen II Helemet Mounted Display System being developed for that aircraft is crucial.

DatalinkIn net-centric and information-driven warfare, the ability to transmit information, including images, is important. The hope, not yet fully achieved, is that war ghters on the ground and in the air will be able to share data and images by being connected to a network. Most US aircraft send and receive data from friendly air and ground commanders using a device called Link 16. But, uniquely, an intelligence and situational picture generated

1&2 F-22 Raptors from the Langley-based 1st Fighter Wing at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, during a temporary

duty deployment to the South China Sea super base.

1

2

AI.04.14 37

by an F-22 cannot be transferred to an F-15, F-16 or airborne early warning aircraft, even if they are all participating in the same operation. Link 16 requires the data to be transmitted and a stealth aircraft cannot retain its radar-evading properties by putting out emissions that can be readily detected by an enemys signals-intelligence efforts.

Initially the Raptor did not have Link 16 but now has the system that soley operates in receive mode. An F-22 pilot can only share data and information with other aircraft by using a radio, except when communicating with another Raptor pilot using the types unique Intra Flight Datalink (IFDL see below). This was more important back in the days when air staff of cers were touting the Raptors air-to-ground capability. Today, F-22 pilots train only for the air-to-air role, which is where the super ghter excels.

The stealth-quali ed, narrow-beam Intra Flight Datalink is unique to the F-22 force. The technology in IFDL is highly classi ed but so far the system only permits one F-22 to communicate with another F-22. It was explicitly designed to enable a small formation of F-22s to talk to one another and to share tracking data what I see on my radar, you can see too, as one Raptor pilot put it.

In 2010, the air force cancelled plans that were fairly mature at that time to equip Raptors with the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL). At one time this was intended for all stealth aircraft, including the B-2 Spirit, but it will now be installed on the F-35 only. MADL is limited to line-of-sight

operation, which might be seen as defeating its purpose, and has limited range.

Today we have this dogs breakfast of different datalinks, formats and con gurations in the airborne network, said the air forces chief information of cer, Lt Gen William Lord at a 2011 conference. So our staff, working with the navy, the marine corps and the army is coming up with the Joint Aerial Layer Network, that will link ground, space and airborne communications nodes together enabling them to talk to one another. Leaving aside the generals metaphor, technical and scal issues have hamstrung development of his planned future gateway that would connect Link 16, IFDL and MADL-equipped aircraft.

In most situations, F-22 pilots will continue to share information with non-F-22 recipients using the only means available to them pressing the transmit button on their voice radio. That means no streams of data, no radar readings and no images. While they


3 An F-22, in the markings of the now stood down 7th Fighter Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base, drops an inert 1,000lb GBU-32 JDAM on White Sands weapon range. 4&5 Airmen prepare to load a 1,000lb GBU-32 JDAM into the right hand side internal weapons bay of an F-22. 6 Airmen read data from the F-22 aircraft on a portable maintenance aid. 7 Airmen prepare to load an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile into the left hand side internal weapons bay of an F-22. 8 Airmen use a portable maintenance aid for refer-ence during loading of a AIM-9 Sidewinder missile.

3

4 5

6 7

8

AI.04.1438

tend to degrade situational awareness, none of the helmet or datalink issues discussed here are viewed as seriously hindering the Raptors formidable air combat capability.

Getting it ThereAs an instrument of policy, the F-22 is most useful to decision-makers in Washington if it can be quickly and effectively deployed to a world trouble spot. Air force leaders like to say that the United States can use the Raptor to kick down the door another Pentagon officer called it neutralising anti-access threats to enable US forces to

dominate in a location previously denied by the presence of a highly capable air defence system.

The ability of the F-22 to span oceans was questioned in 2007 when Pentagon officials acknowledged that technical glitches kept the superfighter from appearing at the Paris Air Show. While attempting the Raptors first overseas deployment to Okinawa on February 11, 2007, six F-22s flying from Hawaii experienced multiple system failures while crossing the International Date Line (the 180th meridian of longitude) caused by software errors. The Raptors were

able to return to Hawaii by following their accompanying KC-135 tankers. Within 48 hours, the software error was rectified and the journey resumed.

In 2009, F-22s deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates for training. In 2011, half a dozen F-22s deployed to the Gulf Air Warfare Centre at Al Dhafra to participate in an exercise. Both F-22 deployments were viewed by Iranian authorities as provocative.

A third Al Dhafra deployment in 2013 was different and highlights the new, lean method of getting the Raptor quickly into


A six-ship of F-22 Raptors fl ying over the White Sands range, near Alamogordo,

in New Mexico.

AI.04.14 39

harms way. Lt Col Kevin Sutter eld of Air Force Reserve Commands Hawaii-based 302nd Fighter Squadron wrote a white paper. His document was widely circulated in the Pentagon and in combatant commands arguing against the need for large force packages and emphasising what he called a way to generate and [rapidly] move small cells of fth-generation jets without need for massive support by tankers and airlifters.

Sutter elds scheme for a nimble, no-frills response force was rst tested during joint exercises in Alaska in August 2013. Half a dozen Raptors got to Al Dhafra with their

entire support cadre using just a single C-17 Globemaster III.

During this deployment, the F-22 came closer than ever to actually shooting at somebody. Gen Mark Welsh, air force chief, told the story at a trade conference: Did you see the news clip not long ago about Iranian F-4s that intercepted a remotely-piloted aircraft over the Arabian Gulf and then they were warned off? This is the guy who warned em off. Welsh introduced Sutter eld to an audience. He ew under their aircraft to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there and

then pulled up on their left wing, called them and said, you really ought to go home.

The mid-air meeting between two Iranian F-4E Phantom IIs following a US MQ-1B Predator and two F-22s ended without anyone pulling a trigger. Some air force of cers thought Welsh told the story ineptly braggadocio over military prowess being, in their minds, in bad taste.

But it was a watershed moment. No longer does the Raptor community need to fear gremlins among the electrons inside their aircraft. No longer must the air force hesitate to deploy the Raptor when it wants to. And no longer does the F-22 require an entire armada of support troops and aircraft when it travels afar.

In March of last year, the rst appearance of the F-22 in South Korea was a measure of new American con dence in the Raptor even if North Korea called it a dangerous step. The deployment consisted of just a pair of F-22s but it left a clear message about US readiness.

During the coming months, pilots and maintainers of the F-22 Raptor super ghter are expecting smaller and more frequent deployments. Watch for an F-22 Raptor, coming soon to an air eld near you.


F-22 RAPTOR SPECIFICATIONS

TypeSingle-seat fi ghter

PowerplantTwo Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100

afterburning turbofan engines each rated at 35,000lb static thrust (156kN)

Two divergent exhaust nozzles with thrust vectoring for enhanced manoeuvrability

PerformanceMaximum speed at altitude: Mach 2.25

(1,500mph, 2,414km/h)

Super cruise: Mach 1.82 (1,220mph, 1,963km/h)

Range: 1,600 nautical miles (2,960km) with two external fuel tanks

Combat radius: 410nm (759km)

Ferry range: 1,700nm (3,150km)

Service ceiling: 65,000ft (19,812m)

WeightsEmpty 31,670lb (14,365kg)

Maximum take-off 60,000lb (27,216kg)

DimensionsWingspan: 44ft 6in (13.56m)

Length: 62ft 1in (18.92m)

Height: 16ft 5in (5.02m)

Wheel base: 19 ft 9in (6.04m)

Wing area: 840sqft (78m2)

ArmamentOne 20mm M61A1 Vulcan cannon with 480

rounds

Six AIM-120 AMRAAMs or other air-to-air missiles carried internally

First fl ightYF-22 August 27, 1990

F-22 September 17, 1997

F-22 Ready

Documents

Transcript of F-22 Ready