Life Cycle of the F-22

F-22 Fighter Aircraft

Introduction

The Air Force 's latest combat aircraft , the F-22 is an air superiority aircraft with a capability to deliver air to ground weapons . It is a highly advanced low observable tactical fighter aircraft that will be the USIF frontline defence aircraft in the next century . Advanced technologies being developed for the F-22 makes it a very ambitious challenging program . The most significant features include super cruise the ability to fly efficiently at supersonic speeds without using fuel consuming after burners , low observability to adversary systems that

have the objective of locating and shooting the F-22 and integrated avionics to significantly improve the pilot 's battlefield awareness .1 The F-22 is designed principally for offensive counter air missions Advanced technologies , including stealth , are intended to enable it to penetrate deeply into hostile airspace and shoot down threatening aircraft before they can detect the F-22 . If detected , the F-22 has the countermeasures , speed and manoeuvrability that should minimize the likelihood of its being hit . Only a very small proportion of encounters are expected to result in closure to ranges at which enemy missiles or guns could be fired at the F-22 . 2 Sensor fusion in F-22 also provides the pilot a high speed data correlation , excellent situational awareness , and

1 . Tactical aircraft restructuring of the Air Force F-22 fighter program , United States General Accounting Office , Diane Publishing , 1997

2 . Live fire testing of the F-22 , National Research Council (U .S committee on the study of live fire survivability testing of the F-22 aircraft , The National Academies Press , 1995

timely precise tactical action . Information from its integrated sensors includes the

location of friendly , unknown , and hostile aircraft , threat identification , radar classification , missile launch detection electronic countermeasures , and external data links . Internal weapons and fuel of the F-22 provide less aerodynamic drag , more manoeuvrability , better fuel efficiency , and lower radar return . Its highly manoeuvrable with thrust vectoring and super cruise function Short field operations and slow speed manoeuvrability are significantly enhanced by thrust vectoring (Crawford Moon , 2000 ,

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The F-22 avionics architectures is characterised as a common , modular highly integrated system . These characteristics result in increased performance , reliability , availability , and affordability . It is the first fully integrated avionics system in U .S . military aircraft . The F-22 does not employ traditional single function black boxes 'to perform basic avionic functions such as navigations , communications threat warning , and fire control . Instead these functions are implemented with common programmable modules which are software configured to process many different functions . These architecture not only allows increased mission effectiveness , but also allows significant flexibility in basic avionic designs through robust , fault tolerant reconfiguration capabilities , higher reliability , easier supportability higher availability , lower weight , extended growth capability , and lower acquisition and life cycle cost (Spitzer , 2001 ,

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History of F-22 Fighter Aircraft

The F-22 is slated to replace the aging U .S . fleet of F-15 Eagle fighters and was originally conceived as a counter to the agile Soviet aircraft in the 1980s . In 1985 , the...