F-22 Raptor Feels the Need for Speed: You may know the F-22 as one of the stealthiest fighter jets in the world. It has so many radar-evading qualities that the United States won’t export it. This sneaky warbird is highly maneuverable and wows the crowd at air shows with its daring flights.
You may not realize how fast the Raptor is and how quickly it accelerates. Let’s take a deeper dive into what makes the speed of the Raptor so awe-inspiring.
F-22 Raptor: How Fast Can It Go?
So how fast are we talking? It can fly a little over MACH 2 with afterburners. That’s more than 1,500 miles per hour or twice the speed of sound. However, afterburners can suck up the fuel. It’s akin to hitting the accelerator hard on a car.
You can’t do it forever without draining the gas tank. So, for short bursts of speed, the afterburners deliver the performance that pushes the needle on F-22s.
Supercruise Gives the Afterburners a Rest
That’s not all the F-22 features. It can also fly in supercruise mode. That means the F-22 can hit around MACH 1.5 without afterburners. This is when the F-22 can save fuel when in supercruise.
This conservation of gas is better for extending range when the Raptor has to make long-range flights to intercept enemy fighters or escort bombers on extended missions.
Supercruise Is More Stealthy
One problem with afterburners is that this mode is easier to pick up on the radar, so pilots worry they could be discovered if the afterburners are engaged for long periods. Supercruise allows the F-22 to remain stealthy at high speed for long periods.
This means the Raptor can sneak up on enemy fighters without them knowing.
Great to Surprise Enemy Fighters
In fact, the Air Force publicized a “tactical surprise” incident in 2013 in the skies near Iran. Two Iranian fighter jets were engaging an American Predator drone that was conducting a recon mission. The F-22 was escorting the unmanned craft, expecting trouble from Iranian interceptors. The F-22 was able to sneak right up underneath one of the Iranian F-4 Phantoms. Then, the American pilot banked and accelerated adjacent to the F-4 – surely making the Iranian pilot’s mouth drop open in surprise. The F-22 pilot told the F-4 aviator to head home, and the bogeys took off in fear.
In addition to its speed, the F-22 can fly at high altitudes. Its ceiling is 50,000 feet. This is another way it can surprise and intercept an enemy fighter.
How About Those Thrust Vectoring Engines?
This is made possible by the excellent power plants on the F-22. Two Pratt & Whitney F119 engines provide the thrust and acceleration.
Pratt & Whitney had the following to say when describing these engines. “The F119 engine delivers unparalleled aircraft maneuverability with its unique two-dimensional pitch vectoring exhaust nozzle. This convergent/divergent nozzle vectors thrust as much as 20 degrees up or down. Nozzle position management is integrated with the F-22 flight control system and is automatically regulated by the Full-Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC), as are hundreds of other engine and aircraft operating parameters,” according to its corporate website.
One downside of these power plants is that they require significant amounts of fuel. Pilots must always be aware of this requirement.
The Air Force keeps the actual fuel requirements under wraps, but it is estimated that the Raptor can carry 18,000 pounds of fuel stored internally.
The F-22 will be an excellent interceptor and dog-fighter should its services be needed in a great power conflict. The stealth attributes are uncanny.
It has excellent speed and versatility with afterburners and super cruise. The pilots could trust that the radar evasion capabilities would allow the warbird to use its speed to sneak up on enemy airplanes. To be sure, the F-4 that the Raptor overtook in 2013 near Iran was an older airplane, but the F-22 will be able to challenge a more modern enemy aircraft in the future.
The increased thrust can deliver the performance needed in a multi-threat environment. No fighter jet can always be dominant and the Chinese and Russians each have two stealth airplanes each in their fleet. The F-22 will be one demanding customer, though.
The thrust vectoring engines create more maneuverability and allow the pilot to be more confident in attack or survival mode. The Raptor is one tough customer, and it will be difficult to retire even as it gets older.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
