The aircraft was variously designated F-22 and F A-22 before it formally
entered service in december 2005 as the F22A. despite its protracted development and
operational difficulties, usaf considers
the F-22 a critical component of its
tactical air power. The fighter's combination of stealth aerodynamic performance and mission
systems enable unprecedented air combat
capabilities. The USAF had originally planned to buy a
total of 750 ATFs.
In 2009 the program was cut to 187
operational aircraft due to high costs, a
lack of clear air to air missions due to
delays in russian and chinese fighter
programs, a ban on exports and
development of the more versatile F-35. The last F-22 was delivered in 2012. The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter system is expected to be the
successor to the F-22. In 1981 the U.S Air Force identified a
requirement for an advanced tactical
fighter atf to replace the F-15 eagle
and F-16 fighting falcon.
Code named Senior Sky this air
superiority fighter program was
influenced by emerging worldwide threats, including new developments in soviet air
defense systems and the proliferation of
the SU-27, flanker and MIG-29, fulcrum
class of fighter aircraft. It would take advantage of the new
technologies in fighter design on the
horizon including composite materials, lightweight alloys, advanced flight
control systems, more powerful propulsion
systems and most importantly stealth
technology.
In 1983 the atf concept development team
became the system program office SPO and
manage the program at wright-patterson
air force base. The demonstration and validation Dem Val
request for proposals RFP was issued in
september 1985 with requirements placing
a strong emphasis on stealth and super
crews, of the seven bidding companies lockheed
and northrop were selected on the 31st
of october 1986.
Lockheed then teamed with boeing and
general dynamics while northrop teamed
with Mcdonnell Douglas and the two
contractor teams undertook a 50-month Dem Val phase, culminating in the flight
test of two technology demonstrator
prototypes, the YF-22 in the YF-23
respectively. Concurrently pratt and whitney and
general electric were awarded contracts
to develop the YF-119 and YF-120 engines
respectively for the atf engine
competition.
Dem Val was focused on system
engineering technology development plans
and risk reduction over point aircraft
designs. In fact after the down select
the Lockheed team completely changed the
airframe configuration in the summer of
1987 due to weight analysis during
detailed design with notable changes
including the wing plan form from swept
trapezoidal to diamond-like in a
reduction in four-body planform area. The short take-off and landing, stole
requirement was relaxed to delete thrust
reversers saving substantial weight.
As avionics was a major cost driver side
looking radars were deleted and the
dedicated infrared search and track irst
system was downgraded from multi-color
to single color and then deleted as well. However space and cooling provisions
were retained to allow for the future
edition of these components. The ejection seat requirement was
downgraded from a fresh design to the
existing Mcdonnell Douglas Aces 2.
The F-22 cannot be exported under us
federal law to protect its stealth
technology and classified features. Customers for U.S fighters are acquiring
earlier designs such as the F-15 eagle
and F-16 fighting falcon or the newer F-35 lightning 2 which contains
technology from the F-22 but was
designed to be cheaper, more flexible and
available for export.
