Worlds most kick-@$$ aircraft!

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Worlds most kick-@$$ aircraft!

Post by hamin_aus »

The Herald wrote: The Air Force's new F-22A Raptor is such a dominant fighter jet that in mock dogfights its pilots typically take on six F-15 Eagles at once.

Despite the favorable odds, the F-15s, still one of the world's most capable fighters, are no contest for the fastest radar-evading stealth jet ever built.

"The F-15 pilots, they are the world's best pilots," said Lt. Col. David Krumm, an F-22A instructor pilot. "When you take them flying against anyone else in the world, they are going to wipe the floor with them. It's a startling moment for them to come down here and get waylaid."

The F-22A officially became ready for combat this month with a squadron of 12 Raptors on standby for worldwide deployment at Langley Air Force Base, Va.

Those who know the Raptor best say it represents a major leap in U.S. warfighting abilities. At this Florida Panhandle base, where all Raptor pilots are trained, instructors say the jet's stealth, speed and ability to electronically scan the battlefield from the air are far superior to any other fighter.

"This is what's next," Krumm said. "The stuff that we have is great and it's capable, but this is what's next."

The Raptor, originally designed for air-to-air combat, was expanded to include a ground attack role. Pilots dropped bombs from Raptors for the first time last weekend in training exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

One of the challenges is finding pilots for the single-seat Raptors, formerly designated F/A-22 to emphasize its ground attack role. The Air Force looks for experienced pilots with a background in fighters and bomb dropping, said Col. Matthew Molloy.

Raptor pilots are former F-15 pilots who have flown a two-seat version, the F-15E Strike Eagle, and also have ground attack experience. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is the Air Force's only other jet that flies both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions.

Eventually, the Air Force plans to take students straight out of pilot training into the Raptor program, Molloy said.

Critics say the Raptor is too expensive at a time when the U.S. already dominates the skies, and that it was designed for a high-tech enemy that no longer exists - the Soviet Union.

The Air Force puts the Raptor's price tag at $160 million per plane, but outside experts estimate they cost more than $350 million each when research and development expenses are added. So far, the Air Force has 56 Raptors, including training and test fighters, at Tyndall, Langley, Nellis and Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The current budget plans call for about 180 Raptors, but the Air Force wants more. Tyndall has the largest contingent at 23.

Military leaders say the plane will ensure American air dominance for years to come.

"In any air-to-air fight out there, it is a hopeless mismatch," Krumm said. "What we are more concerned with are countries that want to deny us air space by purchasing surface-to-air missiles and that kind of stuff. Those are very lethal to the way the U.S. deploys."

The Raptor is designed to be especially proficient at taking out such ground-launched missiles because of its speed and stealth. That's something military leaders say could be needed in a fight against potential enemies including Iran or North Korea.

"We want to kick the door down so the air space is clear for any (aircraft) you want to go in," Krumm said. "Someone could come in flying a Cessna 172 with a pistol if you wanted after we're done."

The Raptor's dogfighting capability adds a new dimension to the Air Force's fleet of stealth aircraft. Krumm compared the earlier F-117 Nighthawk and B-2 Spirit to cockroaches.

"They want to sneak in, drop their bombs, and sneak out again. They have absolutely no wish for a fight," he said. "They don't have air-to-air missiles, they cannot maneuver that well or anything else. Our airplane is entirely offensive. Not only am I stealthy, but I'll also hunt you down and kill you if you get in my way."

And then there is the Raptor's super cruise capability that lets it fly at supersonic speed without using fuel-guzzling afterburners as required by other fighters.

"That saves us a lot of gas and opens up a whole host of things when you start talking about dropping bombs," Krumm said. "You can imagine if you are 60,000 feet doing mach 1.9 (about 1,400 mph) and these bombs are flying out of your airplane, the swath of hell you can produce going through a country saying 'I'll take that target, and that target'."
It really is a beautiful plane...

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There are also some other pretty good planes in production at the moment.

The YF-23

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And the Russian SU-47 Berkut

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Last edited by hamin_aus on 16 May 2006, 09:38, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: F22A Raptor - Worlds most kick-@$$ plane!

Post by Zell »

jamin_za wrote: And the Russian SU-47 Berkut

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LOL! Oh thats Russian of course!
One in every three planes break... :lol:
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Post by hamin_aus »

:lol:
Actually, I think that is an F-15 going down in flames.
Part of the great Russian propaganda machine.
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Post by Kronos »

Actually, if you look at that pic closely, it's an F-22 Going down :roll:

This is an F-15. Also not an ugly plane

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I'm busy building a 1:72 scale F-15E, And after that I have a 1:48 scale F117 Nighthawk lined up.

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Post by hamin_aus »

I never liked the F117 myself. It's slow with poor manuverability.

On a bombing run, if an enemy jet got a visual on you, you were as good as toast.

I remember the Serbians managed to shoot one down. The Yanks said a surface-to-air missile got a lock on the plane because a bomb-bay door didn't close properly.
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Post by VoodooProphetII »

ANy of ppl seen the battle of the X-Planes on discovery. It was basically in the same class as the F22, wiith some similarities, except that these two planes from either Boing, or LH, must be VTOL. It was really interesting to see the plane from LH, where they used the drive shaft from the jet engin to actually motor a fan used for making the plane hover, combined with using the back burner to be able to completely turn 90 degrees down for combined hover thrust. Helps a lot so you don't get the problem of hot engin air getting sucked back into the engin, causing something similar to a back fire..... Shame BOING lost the plot, but then again they wanted the plane to be able to carry 200 men.....lol, okay just a joke...
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Post by Law »

some nice looking planes
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Post by Y0da »

Am I the only one that thinks this article prroves the arrogant nature of the USA? I mean, why don't they just take over the world already? It seems thats what they want. :roll:
Just when I got the hang of life they changed the rules.
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Post by hamin_aus »

Y0da wrote:Am I the only one that thinks this article prroves the arrogant nature of the USA? I mean, why don't they just take over the world already? It seems thats what they want. :roll:
Umm yeah, they might be able to with this plane, but they dont have enough money to buy enough of these babies.
They retail at US$300 million each...

@ VoodooProphetII:
Unfortunately I didnt catch that show :(
Unless I am mistakes, the F22 was an X-Plane as well...
VTOL jets will never match their more traditional cousins in speed or maneuverability in the air though.
If you look at the most successful VTOL plane, the Harrier - the amount of thrust it gets is quite alot, but because of the way the engine, and more importantly, the exhaust nozzles need to be located, the power just isnt there.
Fancy hovering add-ons decrease a planes weapons payload anyway.
IMO, if you want VTOL - go with attack helicopters.
In a fight between a Rooivalk and a Harrier, my money would be on the 'copter - popping up from behing a tree-line or hill and hitting the jet with a missile.
The Harrier would never even know what hit it.
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Post by J2theT »

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=

Gorgeous F-14 Tomcat

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Lockhead SR-71 BlackBird, Not Bad but Ugly
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Post by hamin_aus »

F14 Tomcat: An aircraft carrier special. Started service in the 50's and was still a formidable plane up until the early 80's. Was replaced by the F18 "Super" Hornet

Lockheed Blackbird: Faster than a speeding missle - it had to be - it carried no weapons :D
It can do mach 3+ at an altitude of over 25km up.

Nice planes, Ducky :D
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Post by VoodooProphetII »

Jamin I know what you saying, and the Rooivalk is a work of art by itself. The Raptor was an X-Plane, but an X-Plane some time back, and I mean some years back. As for the X-Plane I'm talking about: The X-35 in the end to be called the F35 is / was to be a joint strike fighter.

http://www.topfighters.com/aircraft-inf ... at=geninfo

Maybe not as pretty as the F22, but still using much of the same tech in the design.

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Post by Kher-za »

I have models of the SU 27 flanker, F14 A, Mig 29 and an old balsa wood Saber jet. Also have an old Airbus model that took me 30 minutes to assemble.

Balsa models were the best, i have a spitfire at home but they gave me 2 of the same wings so i cant finish it. It's been waiting for like 12 years already.
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Post by enLighten »

Y0da wrote:Am I the only one that thinks this article prroves the arrogant nature of the USA? I mean, why don't they just take over the world already? It seems thats what they want. :roll:
Unfortunately for them that's not possible. They couldn't even take over Vietnam... their people are still dying everyday in Afghanistan... their people are getting killed in Iraq...

China's million man standing army would also have alot to say about that...

F-22 is the bomb-shizzle!!! 8) . Too expensive for conquest proportions though...
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Post by muffinman »

the coolest plane ever!!

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P-51 Mustang
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Post by WiK1d »

I saw on Discovery I think where the F-22 went to battle and got hit by a Mig....

The guy flew back to base and when he landed he saw he flew with only 1 wing...amazing!
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Post by Kronos »

muffinman wrote:the coolest plane ever!!

[img]

P-51 Mustang
What's so cool about it?
It's all good and well for the nostalgia, but it's still old. :P
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Post by muffinman »

Kronos wrote:
muffinman wrote:the coolest plane ever!!

[img]

P-51 Mustang
What's so cool about it?
It's all good and well for the nostalgia, but it's still old. :P
it won ww2... it might be old but it's still a nice plane. i dont care that its slow and and and.... I like the plane and wouldn't mind having one 8)

luckily everyone doesn't have the same taste
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Post by KillerByte »

VoodooProphetII wrote:ANy of ppl seen the battle of the X-Planes on discovery. It was basically in the same class as the F22, wiith some similarities, except that these two planes from either Boing, or LH, must be VTOL. It was really interesting to see the plane from LH, where they used the drive shaft from the jet engin to actually motor a fan used for making the plane hover, combined with using the back burner to be able to completely turn 90 degrees down for combined hover thrust. Helps a lot so you don't get the problem of hot engin air getting sucked back into the engin, causing something similar to a back fire..... Shame BOING lost the plot, but then again they wanted the plane to be able to carry 200 men.....lol, okay just a joke...
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Post by viceroy »

muffinman wrote:
Kronos wrote:
muffinman wrote:the coolest plane ever!!

[img]

P-51 Mustang
What's so cool about it?
It's all good and well for the nostalgia, but it's still old. :P
it won ww2... it might be old but it's still a nice plane. i dont care that its slow and and and.... I like the plane and wouldn't mind having one 8)

luckily everyone doesn't have the same taste
who told you that? Yes it's a good plane, but it did not win WW2 by a long shot, it basically came in right at the end and sort of helped out a bit.

Even the Spitfire, despite the stories wasn't the hero of WW2 airbattles, the less known, less good looking, but excellent Hurricane fighter did most of the work :D
Last edited by viceroy on 29 Mar 2006, 16:35, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by muffinman »

history channel :wink:
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Post by GreyWolf »

the Mustang is Legend. the first prop plane to go over 600Km/h. Spitfire was nice, but I don't like th fact that it was a light fighter. I personally like the P-38 Lightning. 2 props are better than one. Germans used to call it "the twin tailed devil" cos it kicked their rears.
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Post by viceroy »

muffinman wrote:history channel :wink:
hmmm...I had R10 for every time the telly was wrong :wink:
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Post by viceroy »

GreyWolf wrote:the Mustang is Legend. the first prop plane to go over 600Km/h. Spitfire was nice, but I don't like th fact that it was a light fighter. I personally like the P-38 Lightning. 2 props are better than one. Germans used to call it "the twin tailed devil" cos it kicked their rears.
Aah, now in that case I'd pick the Mosquito

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Also known as the "Timber Terror" and could reach speeds of 644km/h

I also believe it came out before the Mustang, and I think your "first" claim might be for first single prop to break 600km/h :D
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