German Eurofighter Typhoons achieved simulated “kills” against U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors during close-range dogfight training at the 2012 Red Flag 12-2 exercise in Alaska, but no actual combat shootdowns occurred.
The American press had a field day. ABC News reported that the F-22 Raptor may “own the skies at modern long-range air combat; it is ‘evenly matched’ with cheaper, foreign jets when it comes to old-school dogfighting.”
Eurofighter Typhoon In The Sky NATO. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Eurofighter Typhoon Fighter Pair. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The Red Flag Exercise is a premier, realistic aerial combat training exercise held multiple times annually at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and Eielson AFB, Alaska.
Established in 1975, it prepares aircrews from the U.S. and allied nations for combat by simulating the most dangerous missions of modern warfare, with a focus on high-end, multi-domain warfighting.
And in exercises where the parameters are often rigidly set, “notional shootdowns” will occur.
The F-22 has notionally been shot down by F-16s in the past, as well as an EA-18G Growler during a training exercise, with photographic evidence appearing in 2009 showing a Growler with an F-22 kill mark, demonstrating the Growler’s advanced electronic warfare capabilities.
The German Pilots Milked It For All It Was Worth:
The German pilots also sported Raptor “kill” decals on their Typhoons. “Gott im Himmel, das ist ‘n Wunder.”
The Germans claimed that the notional “kills” proved that they had “Raptor salad for lunch.”
Yes, the German pilots were quite impressed with themselves.
Two German officers, Col. Andreas Pfeiffer and Maj. Marco Gumbrecht, noted in an after-action report that the F-22’s capabilities are “overwhelming” when it comes to modern, long-range combat, as the stealth fighter is designed to engage multiple enemies well beyond the pilot’s natural field of vision, mostly while the F-22 is still out of the other plane’s range.
Eurofighter Typhoon Aircraft NATO. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Eurofighter Typhoon. Image Created by Ideogram.
Grumbrecht said that even if his planes did everything right, they couldn’t get within 20 miles of the next-generation jets before being targeted.
“But as soon as you get to the merge…” Pfeiffer said, referring to the point at which fighters engage in close-up dogfighting, “in that area, at least, the Typhoon doesn’t necessarily have to fear the F-22 in all aspects… In the dogfight, the Eurofighter is at least as capable as the F-22, with advantages in some aspects.”
Stephen Trimble of Flight Global revealed the details of the E/A-18 Growler story, telling aviationgeekclub.com how he learned about it.
PACIFIC OCEAN (Jan. 24, 2026) – U.S. Navy Lt. Patrick Urrutia, left, and U.S. Navy Lt. Jg. Gabriela Patrick depart a U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler attached to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 129 on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), Jan. 24, 2026. Theodore Roosevelt, flagship of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9, is underway conducting exercises to bolster strike group readiness and capability in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Cesar Nungaray)
The Devil…As Always, Is In The Details
Alex Hollings of Air Power wrote that, “After the exercises were over, Germany’s Eurofighter pilots arrived at 2012’s Farnborough International Air Show, where they were quick to discuss their victories over the F-22.
“According to David Cenciotti’s coverage for The Aviationist, Germany’s Typhoon pilots explained that when the F-22 was flying with external fuel tanks attached and fighting within visual range, Typhoons were often able to outclass the Raptor.
“The Raptor pilots, flying within visual range, probably spotted the Eurofighter first, but for some reason did not engage its Sidewinders,” Dr. Brent Eastwood wrote. Things that make you go Hmm.
Also lost in the hoopla of the ABC News story was the Air Force’s statement that the Raptors flew 80 missions during the event “with a very high mission success rate.”
The F-22 Raptor Remains The Standard Of All Fighters
The US F-22 Raptor has been the standard against which all fighter aircraft have been measured for more than 21 years. Yet it still sits at the top of the mountain in terms of dogfighting ability, stealth, supercruise ability, maneuverability, and integrated avionics.
What makes the F-22 great in a dogfight is the aircraft’s thrust vectoring capabilities.
Its two engines have specially designed nozzles at their ends that can move on a vertical plane to vector the aircraft’s 70,000 pounds of thrust in one direction even if the aircraft is heading in another, thus allowing the F-22 to do some impressive acrobatics, as well as leverage a highly high angle of attack during a within-visual-range engagement.
The Raptor’s top speed is Mach 2.25 or 1,500 mph, powered by the Pratt & Whitney F119 turbofan engines.
The USAF currently has approximately 175 combat-ready F-22s in its inventory.
Employing Not Just “Flying” The Raptor
“When you’re flying the Raptor, you’re not thinking about flying the Raptor,” explained F-22 pilot Randy Gordon in a lecture he gave at MIT, “You’re thinking about employing the Raptor. Flying is secondary.”
“Raptor has vector thrust: Typhoon doesn’t,” RAF Typhoon pilot and squadron commander Rich Wells told Breaking Defense in 2013. “What the aircraft can do, it’s incredible. The Typhoon just doesn’t do that.”
While rare, this “shootdown” of a stealth fighter is hardly a singular event. Whenever the situation or training scenario is constrained, it negates the stealth fighter’s advantages.
However, it doesn’t mean that the Growler is equal to the Raptor, nor does it mean that the Typhoon is equal to the F-22. It was simply a matter of cherry-picking some exercises that were stacked in one side’s favor.
Chinese Computer Programmers Made Wild Pronouncements
Headlines from China recently featured statements from Chinese computer programmers claiming the J-20 would win engagements 95 percent of the time against the F-22.
However, that is if the J-20s had two “loyal wingmen” drones. The US is also developing the same program.
J-20 Mighty Dragon Stealth Fighter
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program is a US Air Force initiative to develop a new type of uncrewed, jet-powered aircraft that will operate alongside and collaborate with crewed fighter jets. These are already flying and being tested.
However, in the same computer simulations conducted by Chinese programmers, it was reported that a single J-20 equipped with eight medium-range air-to-air missiles had less than a 10 percent chance of defeating an F-22 equipped with six AIM-120C missiles.
Give the German pilots their due for their performance against the F-22. But it is one of those situations that, while it should be studied, certainly shouldn’t be overreacted to.
MORE – The F-117 Stealth Fighter Almost Flew from an Aircraft Carrier
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications
