Screaming Raptor
I was outside the other day when there was a sudden flurry of wings around me and a ruckus to go with it. A pair of blue jays lit into the nearest pine squabbling about something. Blue jays are not songbirds... when they go into these kinds of fits, they’re downright obnoxious. From among them, something big and silent swooped down to the lower crape myrtle right in front of me… a white-tailed hawk. For as large a bird as it was, within a few beats of its wings, it threaded itself through the woods canopy so fast the bickering jays had no chance to catch up.
What was true for that raptor is true for this aptly named Air Force fighter as well, incredible speed and agility. Here, the pilot is pushing it up to near transonic speeds rapidly after a slow flight demonstration. Such speed creates a zone in the ambient air that rapidly lowers the temperature. On warm, humid days, it can reach the dew point and condense the vapor around it. It becomes almost mirror-like here, reflecting the blue of the sky and obscuring the detail of the aircraft.
This F-22 Raptor is from the 1st Fighter Wing out of Langley AFB, Virginia, the same outfit my dad was with when they flew the F-106 Delta Dart, and my younger brother Paul when they flew F-15 Eagles. The 1st Fighter Wing has roots all the way back to World War I when it was known as the “Hat In the Ring” Squadron. It's at the Wings Over Wayne Air Show demonstrating why it's likely the world's best tactical fighter.
The Raptor is a 5th-Generation fighter capable of stealth... that doesn't mean you can't see it, obviously, but most fire-control radars and infrared detection systems have a hard time with it. Recently in Syria, F-22s pulled right up to the most modern Russian fighters without them even knowing they were there. In the recent Red Flag exercise (think Air Force Top Gun), F-22s and the new F-35s scored 20-1 kill ratios against very heavily defended scenarios. The 5th-Generation aircraft even caused some psychological issues among 4th-Generation pilots... while some radar seemed to indicate stealth aircraft were within their patrol area, there was no way to pin down exactly where they were... and it's a big sky. Many of those pilots had no way of interdiction... everything in sight became the "stealth fighters", causing many mistakes from those pilots. It's tough to train against that, knowing that what you can't see likely already has you targeted. The reverse of this understanding is fascinating, too. The F-22s and F-35s are outstanding air superiority aircraft, but they're also flying supercomputers with many passive sensors built into the skin of each fighter capable of sharing data with any aircraft with the datalink... when they pass information to 4th-Generation aircraft, everyone gets better at the business of being a combat pilot. As former Air Force, I can justly say I'm glad they're on our side.
Screaming Raptor
I was outside the other day when there was a sudden flurry of wings around me and a ruckus to go with it. A pair of blue jays lit into the nearest pine squabbling about something. Blue jays are not songbirds... when they go into these kinds of fits, they’re downright obnoxious. From among them, something big and silent swooped down to the lower crape myrtle right in front of me… a white-tailed hawk. For as large a bird as it was, within a few beats of its wings, it threaded itself through the woods canopy so fast the bickering jays had no chance to catch up.
What was true for that raptor is true for this aptly named Air Force fighter as well, incredible speed and agility. Here, the pilot is pushing it up to near transonic speeds rapidly after a slow flight demonstration. Such speed creates a zone in the ambient air that rapidly lowers the temperature. On warm, humid days, it can reach the dew point and condense the vapor around it. It becomes almost mirror-like here, reflecting the blue of the sky and obscuring the detail of the aircraft.
This F-22 Raptor is from the 1st Fighter Wing out of Langley AFB, Virginia, the same outfit my dad was with when they flew the F-106 Delta Dart, and my younger brother Paul when they flew F-15 Eagles. The 1st Fighter Wing has roots all the way back to World War I when it was known as the “Hat In the Ring” Squadron. It's at the Wings Over Wayne Air Show demonstrating why it's likely the world's best tactical fighter.
The Raptor is a 5th-Generation fighter capable of stealth... that doesn't mean you can't see it, obviously, but most fire-control radars and infrared detection systems have a hard time with it. Recently in Syria, F-22s pulled right up to the most modern Russian fighters without them even knowing they were there. In the recent Red Flag exercise (think Air Force Top Gun), F-22s and the new F-35s scored 20-1 kill ratios against very heavily defended scenarios. The 5th-Generation aircraft even caused some psychological issues among 4th-Generation pilots... while some radar seemed to indicate stealth aircraft were within their patrol area, there was no way to pin down exactly where they were... and it's a big sky. Many of those pilots had no way of interdiction... everything in sight became the "stealth fighters", causing many mistakes from those pilots. It's tough to train against that, knowing that what you can't see likely already has you targeted. The reverse of this understanding is fascinating, too. The F-22s and F-35s are outstanding air superiority aircraft, but they're also flying supercomputers with many passive sensors built into the skin of each fighter capable of sharing data with any aircraft with the datalink... when they pass information to 4th-Generation aircraft, everyone gets better at the business of being a combat pilot. As former Air Force, I can justly say I'm glad they're on our side.