When Stealthy, Fast F-22s Intercepted Iranian F-4s and said “Go Home”

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

At the inception of the now famous F-22 Raptor 5th-generation stealth fighter years ago, engineers and weapons developers envisioned a first-of-its-kind, paradigm-changing new generation of high-speed, stealthy air superiority. According to many assessments years later, this may indeed have been accomplished in a number of key respects. 

Although the F-22 did not formally have its combat debut until attacking ISIS in 2014, the aircraft has been assessed, tested and wargamed for many years and many of the world’s top experts are quite familiar with its performance parameters. Also, there was a significant and telling incident about 10 years ago wherein a high-speed, stealthy F-22s were able to track and approach Iranian F-4s without been noticed at all. This encounter continues to generate interest as many cite the F-22s stealth properities

Roughly ten years ago, an F-22 successfully spoofed, intercepted, and intimidated an Iranian F-4 aircraft after the Iranian aircraft threatened a U.S. MQ-1 drone.

Iran’s Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution reportedly attempted to shoot down the US drone which was operating in international airspace about 16 miles from the Iranian coastline.

Following the incident, the F-22s were dispatched to rescue the drone from an Iranian attack and escort the platform home to a safe landing at a U.S. airbase. While many details were not made available at the time, and there may be elements of the encounter still not made available for security reasons, there were some additional specifics added about the incident from former U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh. Welsh, who provided details for a greater understanding of the issue. He told reporters that the fighter jet (F-22) was providing “HVAAE (High Value Air Asset Escort) for the drone which had come under attack.

F-22 vs F-4

Also, Walsh added that there were specific and highly significant details related to the F-22 escort and air transport, which might not have otherwise surfaced. Apparently, the F-22s use advanced vectoring capabilities and “stealth” to intimidate and warn the Russian 4th-generation aircraft.

“He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said ‘you really ought to go home’,” Welsh said in 2013, according to an essay in the Aviationist.