Stealth Fighter Down: $334,000,000 F-22 Raptor Was 'Shot Down' By Cheap $43,000,000 FA-50 Fighter

An F-22 Raptor from the Hawaii Air National Guard 154th Wing retreats after mid-flight refueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 128th Air Refueling wing of Milwaukee during Sentry Aloha off the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii on January 14, 2026. Sentry Aloha provides cost-effective and realistic, large-scale training scenarios to prepare warfighters and support the Air National Guard’s position as a crucial component of the nation’s operational force.

Stealth Fighter Down: $334,000,000 F-22 Raptor Was ‘Shot Down’ By Cheap $43,000,000 FA-50 Fighter

Summary and Key Points: During the July 2023 Exercise Cope Thunder in the Philippines, a Philippine FA-50PH light fighter reportedly “downed” a U.S. F-22 Raptor using an infrared-guided AIM-9 missile in a simulation. -While the F-22 is the world’s premier 5th-generation stealth platform, the encounter occurred in a Within-Visual-Range (WVR) scenario where stealth and Beyond-Visual-Range … Continue reading Stealth Fighter Down: $334,000,000 F-22 Raptor Was ‘Shot Down’ By Cheap $43,000,000 FA-50 Fighter