How do you know this? (regarding claim of the F-22’s significant IR visibility)
Bold addition mine for clarity’s sake.
I think one could infer that from the fact that the F-22 has a top speed at all and couldn’t escape drag. The big, honking jet engines aside, at its top speed probably about 80-90% of the kinetic energy goes into fighting drag, which turns into heat. A lot of heat. Coupled with a -30°C to -50°C environment at height, IR detection seems hard to escape, even with techniques to distribute the thermal energy over the whole airframe to lower overall signature.
It’s substantiated largely by the F-22’s performance in major international exercises such as Red Flag, as well as many smaller exercises. You don’t have to believe what anyone says, but the results are consistent with the decisions that the USAF has made with regard to the F-22.
The exercise rules notwithstanding, I always wonder how well the USAF can truly simulate potential threats. Coupled with the above about IR, I really wonder how isolated and straight head-on engagements would go down against planes with sophisticated IRST equipment, like the MiG-35 OLS or fully-developed and integrated PIRATE on the Typhoon. Or integrated warfare and new SAM systems, long-wave radards, etc.
While I would expect the F-22 to still win by a large margin, I would also expect the astronomical kill ratios, as well as capability to handle several targets at once, to melt down to more reasonable levels.
It’s not just that the F/A-18 pilot broke the rules, the F-22 pilot obeyed the rules by ceasing to maneuver. In a real war, “Ivan” would not have to obey USAF rules, and likewise the F-22 would not have to obey “Ivan’s” rules, either.
I don’t know which forum it was (and I know how sketchy and evasive this sounds), but I’ve read claims of there being photo shots of the pipper placed on the Raptor from outside the bubble, which the Raptor crossed into.
I’ll see if I can find it again one of these days.
As for general Dozer worship on this board, fencecheck and also f-16.net, I would take everything he says with a grain of salt. One can’t really tell which of it is information and which disinformation. All the wonderful things he has to say about the F-22 can serve many purposes. The ones that come to mind first for me are
1) marketing
The F-22 is still being marketed. Not to export markets (although, in a way, LM does and surely wishes this to become true in the future for Japan at least), but at the moment still to Congress by the USAF and LM. If they can sway public opinion enough, Congress can surely be influenced. While perhaps not all its cracked up to be in the hype, the F-22 still strongly looks like the best jet around and every single unit is a valuable gain for any fighting force.
2) preemptive psychological warfare
In the past, the US military has dropped extra-large American condoms labeled as “Medium” over enemy territory. Presenting the F-22 as invincible silver bullet might be used as a deterrent. You know, wolfs and bears raising their hair. Doesn’t make them more powerful, but makes them look more powerful and intimidating. This can be a tangible advantage in foreign dealings.
And trying to keep with the perceived pressure and threat projected by the F-22, fighter of myth and legend as it is known to everyone not involved in the program itself, nations looking to protect themselves (e.g. Iran, North Korea, China) might spend significantly more time and money than necessary in terms of R&D, production, training and maintenance for their desired level of international defense parity, which, while on the surface an advantage, might break the economic back-end of their operations and hinder the country’s overall development. Every Yen China puts into its military is a Yen it doesn’t put into infrastructure, education, health and stronger long-term growth. Every Rial Iran puts into defense is one it doesn’t put into cutting its oil dependency and building the country and bringing it into the 21st century on all levels. Even without attacking them, the US would still enjoy benefits. The Soviet Union had more problems than just this, but their economic downfall was greatly helped by oversized military spending. Now, this reason might not be why Dozer says what he says, but why his superiors let him say what he says. Even if they never go to war, there are economic gains to intimidating nations that might be international competition and leading their hand on the spending bill.
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