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Elite 2K Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2103 Status: Offline

The following four very nice graphics (illustrations courtesy Lockheed Martin Corp.) are assigned to a news article "<a href="http://www.af.mil/news/airman/1005/air.shtml">F/A-22: Air Dominance For Decades</a>" ("Airman" magazine, Fall 2005).

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Enthusiast Joined: Sep 07, 2006 Posts: 30 Status: Offline

Did anyone read the discussion of supercruise on the Top View slide?

Airman article wrote:

Super-duper fast
The Raptor’s supercruise capability is another stealth contributor. Not only does it allow the pilot to get in and out quickly, spending less time in hostile territory, it reduces the jet’s wake signature. An aircraft with full afterburners on creates a significant radar return. Since the Raptor can go supersonic without afterburners, its radar signature is insignificant.

Thanks to aluminum dust in the rocket propellant, Shrike missile exhaust plumes were visible on SA-2 radar scopes; but I've never heard of a correlation between radar signature and afterburning flight. (I'd have ignored this note had it not been on www.af.mil, which is generally a solid source).

Any thoughts?

-- Shaken - out --

PS: Someone needs to add "Raptor" and "supercruise" to the spell-check dictionary on the site.

One of the slides states the Raptor is the first fighter witha "frameless canopy"...

Hey, 4000+ Vipers can't be wrong Wink

habu2 wrote:

One of the slides states the Raptor is the first fighter witha "frameless canopy"...

Hey, 4000+ Vipers can't be wrong Wink

maybe they count the small metal frame piece aft of the pilot, right where the canopy pivots to open? the F15 has a similar, more obvious frame piece up front near the HUD, but is nothing but clear canopy to the rear. the F22 has no metal at all in the canopy.

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