F/A-22 Secrets Revealed
With long-term military budget cuts looming once again, the U.S.
Air Force and Lockheed Martin are finally talking about some of the
F/A-22 Raptor's closely held secrets that they hope will keep
Congress paying for the $132-million stealth aircraft.
While these conversations, many of them informal, didn't touch on
"even one-third of its classified capabilities," according to one
pilot, they included the ability to hunt down and destroy cruise
missiles well behind enemy lines, the introduction of a new missile
that allows the head-on attack and destruction of stealthy enemy
missiles, a tailless bomber derivative design, a planned electronic
attack capability so powerful that it actually damages enemy
electronics, and modifications that would allow the aircraft's
electronic package to invade enemy computer networks.
The tone of the conversations was sharpened by a still-unreleased
report about the series of air combat training engagements earlier
this year between Indian air force Su-30MKs and F-15Cs from
Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; the latter were equipped with the U.S.'
newest long-range, high-definition radars.