It is really hard to determine which plane is the best, capable, and most feared fighter plane in the world. However, we can have a short list on which are equipped with the most advanced technology that could possibly be feared by most of the fight pilots around the world. One of them would be F/A-22.
F/A-22 was developed in USA, in 1980s, so as to counter the soviet unions developing new, advanced fighter plane. At that point of time, US released their latest F-15 that they thought could control the skies of the world. However, not long after the release of the F-15, The pentagon detected new, larger fighter plane tested by Soviet Unions. That was the time that they knew their F-15 could no longer live for a long period of time.
After evaluation of what is really needed to build the 21st century fighter plane, they released and asked contractors such as Lockheed to propose new design for the Air Force. At first, 7 company proposed the idea including Lockheed who built F-117, Northrop who built B-2, but Eventually, Lockheed won the contract and that was the time when they started producing F-22.
Why was the F-22 chosen?
One of the main focus that Air Force demanded was the stealth capability. Both Lockheed and the Northrop were leading on building stealth plane. However, Lockheed design was more feasible and after running hundreds of flying tests, it was proven that F-22 outdo the plane made by Northrop.
One of the greatest engineering marvel of the F-22 is that the angle of all the pointed edges actually faces the same angle. Despite relying very little on radar absorbent materials unlike F-117 or B-2, they were able to be considered stealth. Being “stealth” does not mean invisible but to be less visible on radar. F-22 was able to achieve this by reflecting the radio waves away from the radar, rather than towards it. Some of the crucial parts are also covered with materials that absorb radio waves to make it more invisible.
Furthermore, its wings are diamond shaped that refines to improve the aerodynamic, strength and as mentioned above, stealth technology. Because it must withstand huge amount of stress and heat, high strength titanium were more widely used compared to other fighter jets.
Despite the fact that it cost $93million per F-22, which are currently the most expensive fighter plane around the world, they were able to win the contract because they were fast, stealth, flexible and has all they need to be on the air safely. They are flexible in as sense that they do not rely on the coating that absorb radio waves which allows them to fly on extreme weather conditions.
Equipped with AN/ACR-94, a passive receiver, 30 antennas are used which reduces the chance of being located by radar. Furthermore, Designers designed the plane in such a way that missiles are kept inside the body of F-22. One of the reason is because the missiles conflict with the angle that F-22 possesses. This will cause the radar to detect the change of its signals and allows them to detect this high-tech jet.
Just looking at this, we can tell that so much work is done to create and design something that is so vital, complex. And I really respect the designers and Engineers who could possibly think of such brilliant engineering marvels! Hopefully, we could all be one of those who makes the world full of interesting, innovative and intelligent design to make our lives here more comfortable and sustainable!
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