According to Washington Examiner, on Jun. 18, 2017, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has received a secret report on restarting production of the F-22 Raptor from the U.S. Air Force (USAF).
House lawmakers ordered the report last year to determine what it would take and how much it might cost to re-start producing the high-tech, fifth generation aircraft again.
Congress in fact voted in 2009 to stop purchasing the F-22 stealth fighters after just 187 were made, hundreds less than the USAF had planned.
Actually the F-22 Raptor’s combination of stealth, supercruise, maneuverability, and integrated avionics, coupled with improved supportability, represents an exponential leap in warfighting capabilities. The Raptor performs both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions allowing full realization of operational concepts vital to the 21st century Air Force.
A combination of sensor capability, integrated avionics, situational awareness, and weapons provides first-kill opportunity against threats. The F-22 possesses a sophisticated sensor suite allowing the pilot to track, identify, shoot and kill air-to-air threats before being detected. Significant advances in cockpit design and sensor fusion improve the pilot’s situational awareness.
The sophisticated F-22 aerodesign, advanced flight controls, thrust vectoring, and high thrust-to-weight ratio provide the capability to outmaneuver all current and projected aircraft.
The F-22 design has been extensively tested and refined aerodynamically during the development process.
The F-22’s characteristics provide a synergistic effect ensuring F-22A lethality against all advanced air threats. The combination of stealth, integrated avionics and supercruise drastically shrinks surface-to-air missile engagement envelopes and minimizes enemy capabilities to track and engage the F-22. The combination of reduced observability and supercruise accentuates the advantage of surprise in a tactical environment.
Photo credit: Senior Airman Kayla Newman / U.S. Air Force
Artwork courtesy of AircraftProfilePrints.com
Additional source: U.S. Air Force
Military Aviation