By Kris Osborn, Warrior
“First shot-First Kill” is the key operational concept behind the high-speed, stealthy 5th-Gen F-22 Raptor, a famous air supremacy fighter argued by many to be the world’s best. Its performance parameters are wide ranging as the F-22 has among the world’s best thrust to weight ratio, Mach 2.25 speed and advanced air-to-air combat vectoring capability.
The Raptor is also well known for its weapons and extensive upgrades over the years, factors which have inspired the Pentagon and Air Force to plan to fly the F-22 until 2060 and beyond. A fleet wide F-22 software upgrade in recent years, referred to as 3.2b, greatly improved performance of the aircraft’s AIM-9X and AIM-120 air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, and the platform has in recent years received new antennas, communications technology, computing and AESA Radar. Therefore, while the Raptor may have first entered operational service in 2005, the aircraft remains relevant, effective, potentially superior and in high demand from Combatant Commanders more than 20-years later.
F-22 & Air Dominance
The Concept of Operation for the F-22 can be described as intended “air dominance,” meaning the aircraft is built to use stealth, speed and air-to-air combat capability to destroy rival stealth aircraft and counter air defenses. Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses is the Air Force’s formal term for one of the Raptor’s key missions, as the aircraft is designed to use advanced sensing, stealth and precision weaponry to locate, evade and potentially destroy an enemy’s ground-based surface-to-air missile systems. The operational concept is to create a survivable “air corridor” for less stealthy but critical 4th-generation aircraft, bombers and drones to operate in and travel through for attacks over enemy territory.
Despite all of these attributes, and a successful combat debut against ISIS in 2014, the F-22 suffers from a concerning deficit … fleet size. In total, the Air Force has received 186 F-22s, however numerous public reports estimate that the actual operational available fleet of F-22 is roughly 150 or less aircraft. Therefore, a numbers deficit certainly creates an F-22 “mass” problem in the event that the Air Force is called upon to perform major combat operations.
Rapid Raptor Program
As a way to address this problem and help ensure F-22s were successfully positioned to attack quickly if needed anywhere throughout the world, the Air Force created a program known as Rapid Raptor, an initiative which involves forward positioning F-22s in critical locations throughout the world to ensure that the aircraft can strike anywhere in the world within 24hours.
While the Rapid Raptor program remains effective as a way to ensure an F-22 “first-kill” attack, it does not enable the Air Force to “mass” F-22 formations across a wide theater of operations, something which would of course prove vital in the event of a great power conflict. This is a main reason why many historians, observers, wargamers, Pentagon weapons developers and decision makers have come to greatly lament the decision to stop F-22 production years ago. While there are likely many factors which influenced this decision such as budget considerations or the arrival of the F-35, it appears the decision to prematurely “end” F-22 production may have suffered from short-term thinking. The F-22 came of age during the height of the Global War on Terror and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, so weapons developers may have lacked a “longer term” view of the global threat environment which could have correctly anticipated the rise of great power, near-peer rivals such as Russia and China.
Solving the F-22 Problem?
Recognizing all of this, some might be inclined to wonder if this F-22 fleet size problem was in any way “solvable,” given that there simply are not enough Raptors to meet current and potential future demand. Years ago, the Air Force considered restarting production of the F-22 line, but plans were cancelled ostensibly for budget reasons. One thing the Air Force has done is focus heavily upon compatibility, networking, interoperability and information exchange across otherwise incompatible platforms. In recent years, the US Air Force has upgraded LINK 16 F-35-to-F-22 two-way communications technology to ensure high-speed Raptors can instantly coordinate with F-35s in an air combat scenario. This makes great tactical sense given that the US Air Force, Navy and Marines now operate hundreds of F-35s in position to support F-22s with multirole sensing, computing, surveillance, data-exchange and targeting. Additionally, the F-22 has become known as an “aerial quarterback” given its commensurate ability to share information with and direct 4th-generation aircraft.
F-47 & F/A-XX
Still another possible remedy for an F-22 shortage would, quite simply, be to build hundreds of F-47s and F/A-XX planes capable of operating in a large-scale air combat contingency.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University