F-22 Raptor To Make Paris Air Show Debut

Feb 4, 2009
By David A. Fulghum

The U.S. Air Force is taking the F-22 Raptor to the Paris Air Show for the
first time this summer, according to Larry Lawson, executive vice president
and general manager of the F-22 program.
The trip to Paris has been long delayed. A furor that surrounded the
detailed customs inspection and electronic surveillance of the F-117 the
only time it went to France has apparently subsided.
The new U.S. administration has no grudge against France for not
participating in the invasion of Iraq. Even recent concerns about the French
air force’s electronic surveillance of the Indian Air Force’s Su-30 MKI
during a 2008 Red Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., has died
down (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 25). Moreover, the potential for additional U.S.
sales and, possibly, foreign sales has removed any remaining barriers.
To pique consumer interest, Lockheed Martin has revealed better than
expected performance for the stealth fighter.
The F-22s overperformance includes a radar cross section that is “better”
than was contracted for, the company says. That classified requirement has
been calculated at a -40 dBsm, about the size of a steel marble. By
contrast, the F-35 is thought to be a -30 dBsm, the size of a golf ball.
Supercruise is at Mach 1.78 rather than Mach 1.5. And acceleration –
although company officials would not say from what speed or at what
altitude – is 3.05 seconds quicker than the requirement of 54 seconds.
In nonafterburning military power the Raptor can operate at just more than
50,000 feet. However, it is known that the F-22 opened its aerial battles at
about 65,000 feet during its first joint exercise in Alaska, apparently
using afterburner.
There also is a mysterious admission that the range of the Raptor’s
Northrop-Grumman/Raytheon active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar
is 5 percent greater than expected. That means a cushion of an additional
5-6 miles of detection range against enemy aircraft and missiles.