Forum: General F-22A Raptor forum

Look at it this way...

With the F-117 we learned how to make something stealthy. The big advancement since then that we can see is that we learned how to make this stealthy, smoothly contoured and very fast. But that is only what we can see and perhaps thats the easiest things our admirers can copy. However, IMHO, the biggest advancement is in making things stealthy with a radar and full range ESM and comm antennas in it.

You see, the F-117 didn't have a radar not because we are too cheap to put one on it or that a synthetic aperture radar isn't immensely useful for its strike missions. It didn't have a radar because we didn't know how to put a radar in a stealthy platform. Think about it for a minute... if the randome absorbs or deflects radar waves in the X-band, the radar plain out won't work. If it didn't then as far as the enemy's radar is concerned the aircraft is as stealthy as one without the nose cone! This extends to the coverings of the embedded antennas in the wing, tail, fuselage or whereever you put them. They have to be let the aircraft's own RF devices work unhindered, yet reflect or absorb to enemy RF signals. Thats the near impossible thing that they pulled off which no one is talking about. On top of that, we have also found a way for our AESA radars to hit the enemy aircrafts and ground installations without setting off their EW receivers. These are to greatest accomplishments of US stealth technology.

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I think Raptor_One's right. I looked at cutaways of the F-22 and sure enough, there are the embedded antennae. I'll leave it at that. Cool

By the way (and slightly off topic), why do some F-22 seem to have higher contrast coatings than others? Some look like they are overall the same color, while others have the edges off-color. These look cooler Cool

IMO.

Elite 1K Joined: Aug 19, 2004 - 09:19 AM Posts: 1092

Tinito_16 wrote:

By the way (and slightly off topic), why do some F-22 seem to have higher contrast coatings than others? Some look like they are overall the same color, while others have the edges off-color. These look cooler Cool

IMO.

You may be looking at pictures of production prototype F-22As. Some of those (if not all) even had external antennae. They had one ventral antenna located just forward of one of the main missile bays and one dorsal antenna just aft of the cockpit. You don't see these on the production birds in service though. I think the production prototype F-22As all have ED (Edwards AFB) letters on the vertical tails.

Raptor_One wrote:

Tinito_16 wrote:

By the way (and slightly off topic), why do some F-22 seem to have higher contrast coatings than others? Some look like they are overall the same color, while others have the edges off-color. These look cooler Cool

IMO.

You may be looking at pictures of production prototype F-22As. Some of those (if not all) even had external antennae. They had one ventral antenna located just forward of one of the main missile bays and one dorsal antenna just aft of the cockpit. You don't see these on the production birds in service though. I think the production prototype F-22As all have ED (Edwards AFB) letters on the vertical tails.

OMG yes! They have external antennas! But how? And are they stealthy with those things jutting out like that? I presume they were upgraded to production standard, but I don't know myself. I have a question, how does one "unstealth" an F-22? I've read that the Typhoon was able to track the Raptor - in unstealthed form.

Elite 1K Joined: Aug 19, 2004 - 09:19 AM Posts: 1092

I don't know exactly why the production prototype birds had those external antennas I mentioned in my last post. I do know the reasons for the big nose boom contraption the test birds had throughout most of the testing program, but not the two smaller wing-like dorsal/ventral antennae. And no, I'm sure these antennae were not stealthy which is why you don't see them on F-22s in active service. I suppose you "unstealth" an F-22 by attaching one or more radar reflectors at specific locations on the airframe. As for what you heard about a Typhoon tracking an F-22... I wouldn't put much stock in it either way (i.e. if someone said it did or it didn't). It would be a major screw-up for someone in the UK's Royal Air Force to issue an *unauthorized* leak about the detectability of the F-22. It would be like the US leaking information on the Typhoon's observed maximum turning performance... if not way worse. It's not in the best interests of staunch allies like the UK and USA to leak this type of information about each other's capabilities. If there really was a leak, it may have been a planned leak to plant seeds of disinformation. Then again, I have no idea if this sort of cloak and dagger stuff actually takes place. It may just happen in Hollywood. Smile

lol. I think it happens for real. Just look at area 51. If there was anything real there, no one would even know the base exsisted. The government's probably helped the publicity, just to take ppl's attention away from more real classified research.

Elite 1K Joined: Aug 19, 2004 - 09:19 AM Posts: 1092

Tinito_16 wrote:

lol. I think it happens for real. Just look at area 51. If there was anything real there, no one would even know the base exsisted. The government's probably helped the publicity, just to take ppl's attention away from more real classified research.

Say what? We were talking about one thing and you threw in something totally unrelated. Your post above, my friend, is a non sequitur.

Raptor_One wrote:

Tinito_16 wrote:

lol. I think it happens for real. Just look at area 51. If there was anything real there, no one would even know the base exsisted. The government's probably helped the publicity, just to take ppl's attention away from more real classified research.

Say what? We were talking about one thing and you threw in something totally unrelated. Your post above, my friend, is a non sequitur.

Roger that, will pre check before posting. I'm 19 and there seems to be a randomness to it Cool

so, there is no truly top speed unveiled yet?

end wrote:

so, there is no truly top speed unveiled yet?

Is there for ANY aircraft?

Tinito_16 wrote:

I've read that the Typhoon was able to track the Raptor - in unstealthed form.

Just remember that bragging about something like that would be like bragging that you can track a 747...not to spectacular and kind of embarrassing.

Raptor_One wrote:

I don't know exactly why the production prototype birds had those external antennas I mentioned in my last post. I do know the reasons for the big nose boom contraption the test birds had throughout most of the testing program, but not the two smaller wing-like dorsal/ventral antennae. :)

The antennas Raptor One mentioned are for telemetering flight test data to the ground station for real-time monitoring and recording. Thousands of items, sampled at up to hundreds of times per second, are also recorded on the on-board recorder. Productions airplanes do not have the data system or antennas. They may also be UHF communication antennas.

Active Member Joined: Jun 01, 2004 - 08:55 AM Posts: 134

any close up pix of the antennas of non-production raptors versus the production birds without them please?

fretmarks wrote:

any close up pix of the antennas of non-production raptors versus the production birds without them please?

Just check out the F-22 photo gallery on this forum. The ones with ED tails have had a little antennas visible just behind the canopy and a similar one just between the intakes on the bottom.

Mike

Forum: General F-22A Raptor forum

F/A-22 top speed