This garbage had been discussed here, on F 16.net and other forums. Some 70 years old guys that did not realize that the world has changed and we are in 2006. I wont’t waste any arguments. I just comment on this:

The most obvious disadvantage stealth brings to the F-22 is
extraordinary cost; it grossly reduces the numbers we will buy. New
Department of Defense data shows the total unit cost of the F-22 has
grown from about USD130 million to over USD350 million per aircraft.
Result? The original buy of 750 is now down to 185.

It’s hilarious! On the contrary, it is the reduction in F 22 number from 750 to 185 made the cost (including R&D) to jump so high!

BTW, you didn’t tell when the USAF last visual combat take place… :p

I have a video documentary called Eagle Country,from late 80-s, in which McDonnell test pilot says that the F-15E has FBW controls. That proved to be a hoax, because much later was revealled that it has electro-hydraulic FCS, like F-15C.

Wrong! The E has a hydraulic FCS, but digitally-controlled. The C doesn’t have this.

Come on, come on, come on… X-31 and Su-37 are as far in terms of operational readiness as they only can be. X-31 was a pure technology demonstrator, ergo an empty hull with engine, cockpit and controls. Su-37 was a combat ready full spec Su-35, equipped with operational PESA radar (BARS), tweaked flight controls and TVC. Some of the combat avionics as well as the weapons pylons were removed as unnecessary but to put it in the same league as X-31 shows a hilarious lack of objectivity.

X-31 could be compared to MFI 1.44, EAP, Rafale A or XF-35 whereas the Su-37 was further developed than a series F-35A is today.

At the end of the day the X 31 and the Su 37 are the same since they remained at prototype stage. I am aware of course that the X 31 (X comes from experimental) isn’t derived from an operational fighter, while the 37 was derived from an operational aircraft, but the programs weren’t continued. Instead both programs were used to test some technologies incorporated lately in operational aircrafts.

BTW, I don’t think that that the 37 has an operational Bars on it. This one was operational much later.

BTW here is a video where you can how the 9X sensor will “see” the targets (QF4) http://www.raytheon.com/products/aim_9x/ the video is “Unleashing the Next Generation Sidewinder”

Its irrelevant what models they use, the laws of physics are the same in Russia as they are in the United States.

The laws of physics might be the same, but the RCS of the F 22 isn’t the same with those of S 37 or MFI

Their new radar may very well detect things like the MFI or S 37, but why are you so sure that it would detect the f 22?

did i post the whole article?
this is not the 50 era metric radar.

Do you think the USAF tested the Raptor against 1950 metric radars???? I just pointed that metric radars are not the last news in da hood.

That would be a nice achievement, something to be proud of.

Still, no oficial confirmation.

I assume you don’t use M1.5 in a knife fight, but you still could use that speed in terms of BVR contact. OK, now you got two opponents some 40-50 miles away at M1.5 and both aircraft are ready to fire their BVRs.. What advantage does maneuvrability bring here? At 50 miles an opponent stays exactly the same small blip on the screen regardless on what maneuvers does he make.

But what if the two opponents are spread and not flying together? In combat the F 22 will be probably outnumbered. If you have to go from one target to another what plane do you prefer?

What about when a bandit is chasing the f 22? Reports (CodeOne if a company magazine doesn’t equates to you only PR BS) say that even in ful AB a clean F 15 can’t chase a raptor. Also in head-to-head engagements the raptor (supersonic) maneuvrability caused the opposing F 15/16 to abort engagement entirely.

Also the F 22 will be used in DEAD (The F-22As deployed to Combat Hammer execcise in 2005 dropped 22 JDAMs with no misses, and delivered the best bombing accuracy of any type in the exercise). The abilty to fly fast and turn would shrink the SAM enveloppe.

Here are some quoted from Paul metz the F 22 test pilot from CodeOne:

Supercruise, or the ability to travel at high supersonic speeds without afterburner, is one trick in a bag of tricks offered by the F-22. But this trick happens to be exclusive to the Raptor. While fighter aircraft have been flying faster than sound since the Century series of fighters, they almost always required an afterburner for supersonic flight. Because afterburner severely reduced range, supersonic flight was exploited for only relatively short periods of time, for example to avoid ground fire or run down an adversary. Some of today’s frontline fighters can maintain slight supersonic flight with non-afterburning thrust without a full weapons load and without external tanks, but the Raptor can sustain much higher speeds for much longer periods with a full load of weapons. This ability to supercruise gives the F-22 huge offensive and defensive tactical advantages. Supercruise performance demonstrated in flight tests with the Raptor is nothing short of eye watering.

The Offensive Advantage
The ability to move against an adversary at high speeds gives fighter pilots advantages they call “first look, first shot, first kill.” The first pilot to see an adversary is more likely to get off a successful shot and survive the encounter. The kinematic range of an AIM-120 AMRAAM, for example, increases by fifty percent as aircraft speed increases from 0.9 to 1.5 Mach (this assumes an altitude advantage for the shooter). That is, the missile can reach targets fifty percent farther away because its initial speed coming off an F-22 flying 1.5 Mach is much faster. The Raptor easily supercruises in this speed regime. This missile range advantage intensifies the F-22’s sensor advantage—the radar on a Raptor can see a bandit long before a bandit’s radar detects a Raptor.

The first pilot to launch a missile at an adversary is more likely to survive the encounter. The offensive “push” of supercruise creates shot opportunities earlier and at longer range. The effect of supercruise to subsequently deny the enemy’s shot is less apparent. Cranking after the shot always reduces the enemy’s effective missile range, but a supercruise crank places the F-22 way outside an adversary’s maximum range, even if it could detect the F-22. Supercruise also plays out in simply getting from point A to point B. Once the Raptor turns on an opponent, the Raptor’s speed places the intercept point farther from the start point. If the Raptor is protecting a strike force, the adversary fighters will be engaged and downed farther away from the strikers and long before an enemy missile can be launched against the friendlies.

The Defensive Advantage
Supercruise is an added boost to the overall power of the stealth of the F-22. Although not yet a “cloaking device,” stealth does delay the enemy’s shot opportunity until late in the engagement. Against a ground-to-air threat, high speed equates to reduced reaction times from detection to launch and reduced kinematic ranges for surface-to-air missiles or antiaircraft artillery.

I liken this advantage against ground threats to skeet shooting against a supersonic skeet, a challenging target made exceedingly challenging by the split second available for tracking, leading, and firing before it flies out of kinematic range. Supercruise has the same effect for the Raptor, and the same dynamics apply to the F-22 in an air-to-air fight. The Raptor’s higher cruise speed makes intercept more difficult and reduces enemy missile range more significantly. Higher speeds significantly shrink shot opportunities at the beam or front quarter of the F-22 because the missile winds up in a high-speed tail chase or it must make an energy-depleting hard turn because of the high line-of-sight rates.

Only logical to do so since they are the youngest of the fighters in the USAF/USN aresenal !!

Yes but someone said that an F 15C with some goodies will be more than a match for an MKI (which I subscribe). What I wanted to underline is that this won’t materialize too soon (if ever due to financial constraints).

And I repeat even the AIMK 120 C5 is more than enough.