F/A-22 Raptor
Primary function: Fighter, air dominance.
Builders: Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Major Subcontractors (partial list): Northrop Grumman, Texas Instruments, Kidde-Graviner Ltd., Allied-Signal Aerospace, Hughes Radar Systems, Harris, Fairchild Defense, GEC Avionics, Lockheed Sanders, Kaiser Electronics, Digital Equipment Corp., Rosemount Aerospace, Curtiss-Wright Flight Systems, Dowty Decoto, EDO Corp., Lear Astronics Corp., Parker-Hannifin Corp., Simmonds Precision, Sterer Engineering, TRW, XAR, Motorola, Hamilton Sundstrand, Sanders/GE Joint Venture, Menasco Aerospace.
Personnel (approximate): USAF Program Office, 350; Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, 1,100; Boeing, 1,400; Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems; 1,500; Pratt & Whitney, 1,000.
Powerplant:
Two Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 engines.
Speed:
The F/A-22's speed class is Mach 2.
Armament:
Air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles.
Crew:
Model F/A-22A will carry one crewperson.
Milestones:
Sept. 29, 1990: First flight of Lockheed Martin-Boeing YF/A-22 prototype.
April 23, 1991: Air Force awards F/A-22 Engineering & Manufacturing Development Contract to Lockheed Martin-Boeing team.
Feb. 24, 1995: Air Force approves final design of the F/A-22.
April 9, 1997: Air Force officially names the F/A-22 "Raptor" at rollout ceremony in Marietta, Ga.
Sept. 7, 1997: First flight of the F/A-22 Raptor, piloted by F/A-22 Chief Test Pilot Paul Metz.
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The airframe will be built of titanium, aluminum, composites, steel, and other materials. Titanium and both thermoset and thermoplastic composites will comprise the largest percentage of materials, 30 and 26 percent respectively.
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The F-22 is capable of carrying existing and planned air-to-air weapons. These include a full complement of medium-range missiles such as the AIM-120A advanced medium range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) and short-range missiles such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder.
The F-22 has four internal weapons bays for its main armaments. Two at the bottom of the mid-fuselage and two on the air intake sides. Four underwing hardpoints are mainly meant for fuel tanks on ferry flights, but can also carry a weapon load.
Air-to-air configuration; 2 AIM-9 [Sidewinder] missiles in the side bays + 6 AIM 120C [AMRAAM] missiles. (or 4 of the older AIM 120A [AMRAAM] missiles, which have longer fins)
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Air-to-ground configuration; 2 AIM-9 [Sidewinder] missiles in the side bays + 2 AIM 120C [AMRAAM] missiles + 2 GBU-32 JDAM 450 pounds bombs. (or 2 GBU-30 JDAM 1000 pound bombs and no AMRAAM missiles)
External combat configuration; 2 fueltanks + 4 missiles.
Ferry configuration; 4 external fuel tanks + 8 missiles
If the pilot decides to fire a missile, the weapons bay door of the referring missile will open, the mechanism will carry the missile outside the plane, the missile can lock and it is fired. When the missile is away, the ejection system will retract into the weapons bay again and the bay door closes to preserve the fighters stealthyness.
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