Air Force Adds New Weapons to 143 F-22s – What Does it Mean?

Warrior Video Above: Air Force Adds New Weapons to 143 F-22s – What Does it Mean?

Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

(Washington, D.C.) The US Air Force is now integrating new weapons onto 143 F-22s to massively expand their target envelope, air-to-air attack range and lock-on-launch precision — to preserve the widely held belief that the stealth fighter is the most advanced and dominant air-to-air fighter ever to exist.

F-22s will be able to track and destroy enemy targets flying behind them, hit air targets with much greater force, precision and destructive power and include new GPS jam-resistant technologies, developers explain.

Actual integration of the new, upgraded weapons — which include the AIM-9X and AIM-120D missiles — begins this May, according to the 2018 Air Force Annual Acquisition Report. The weapons expansion is part on an ongoing, multi-year upgrade called 3.2B during which the weapons improvements were prototyped, tested, demonstrated and validated. Now, the Air Force Report says – they are operational and ready for war.

*“*The F-22 Increment 3.2B program upgrades the F-22A with the latest air-to-air weaponry (AIM-9X and AIM-120D), adds additional electronic protection techniques to guard against emerging threats and improves the network-centric warfare capabilities of the aircraft,” the Air Force annual acquisition report states.

The weapons integration will take place at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, Nellis AFB, Nevada and Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

“This strategy ensures minimal down time and returns the upgraded jets to the warfighter at the fastest rate possible,” the Air Force report states.