F-22 vs. Eurofighter Typhoon: Who Wins? Aviation buffs love to debate the merits of aircraft and how particular warbirds would fare against one another.
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It is something that military aviation analysts at think tanks spend a great amount of time on as it requires considering every detail.
Much of the time, however, it is akin to comparing whether Frankenstein’s monster could defeat the Mummy – and unfortunately given the failure of Tom Cruise’s outing in the last reboot of the latter series, we’re not likely to see such a monster mashup on the big screen anytime soon.
However, it is always possible that given the success of this summer’s Top Gun: Maverick, we could see Pete “Maverick” Mitchell piloting an advanced fighter again. Unfortunately, that still won’t answer the question of how an F-22 Raptor might fare against the Eurofighter Typhoon. At issue is that Maverick is a United States Navy flyboy, and the Lockheed Martin F-22 is solely operated by the United States Air Force.
This week, Hotcars.com did ponder the very question – noting that both the Eurofighter and F-22 serve relatively similar roles that include air superiority and ground attack missions. The short answer would be that this would be a bad match-up, as the F-22 is a fifth-generation air superiority fighter that has stealth capabilities and the ability to engage an enemy beyond visual range.
The Eurofighter Typhoon, which was developed as a multirole and air superiority fighter, could easily blow away most aircraft that would dare confront it. It is powered by two Eurojet EH200 afterburning turbofan engines, which propel the aircraft to a top speed of Mach 2.0, or 1,320 mph. The aircraft features a delta wing design, with a pair of canards at the front, similar to the Rafale.
Its complex fly-by-wire system and its relaxed stability design provide the aircraft with almost unrivaled agility – at least until it had to face the Raptor.
The F-22 in the Spotlight
The single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter first entered service in 2005, and has been steadily updated. Even today, nearly 20 years after it first entered service, it is widely regarded as the most dominant fighter in the world.
The F-22 Raptor is respected for its dogfighting ability and air-to-air maneuverability attributes, especially when compared with any other potential rival. As previously noted, the Raptor is solely operated by the United States Air Force, as it was developed as part of the service’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program two decades ago as an air superiority fighter that could also be capable of ground attack, electronic warfare and signals intelligence.
Powered by two Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines and is capable of reaching speeds of Mach 2 (1,534 mph/2,469 kph). The F-22 has a ceiling of 50,000 feet (15 kilometers) and a range of 1,841 miles (2,962 km) without refueling.
Fortunately, there is little reason to think that the F-22 would ever actually have to take on the Eurofighter, and it is more likely the two aircraft could fly side-by-side and clear the skies of Russian MiG-29s should Putin decide to do something stupid. And that’s something we can all agree on, there is nothing in Russia’s arsenal that can match either the Typhoon or Raptor.
F-22 Raptor. Image Credit: U.S. Air Force.
F-22 Raptor. Image Credit: U.S. Air Force Social Media.
F-22 Hawaiian Raptor flies over Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Dec. 5, 2019.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Paul ‘Loco’ Lopez, F-22 Demo Team commander/pilot, performs an aerial demonstration during the MCAS Beaufort air show, April 27, 2019. Maj. Lopez has over 1,500 hours flying both the F-15 and the F-22 and is in his second year as the commander of the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Samuel Eckholm)
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,000 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
