Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 3

 Warning : session_start : The session id contains invalid characters,
valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning :
session_start : Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent
output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning :
Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by output started
at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 10 resolution
sensors and being closer to the targets.” The F-22’s radar range is
described only as being more than 100 mi. However, it’s thought to be
closer to 125-150 mi., which is much farther than the standard F-15’s
56-mi. radar range. New, active electronically scanned radar technology—
optimized for digital throughput—is expected to soon push next-generation
radar ranges, in narrow beams, out to 250 mi. or more. The ability to close
on the enemy without being targeted also allowed the F-22s to operate in
threat areas where conventional fighters could not survive. This enabled
the Raptor to engage targets at a greater distance from the aircraft and
homeland they were defending. Raptor pilots had all the available data on
the airspace fused and displayed on obser vable UCAS in the battlespace.
An air defense system pops up, and I click on a UCAS icon and drag it over
[the emitter’s location] and click. The UCAS throttles over and jams it,
blows it up or whatever.” In Alaska, because the F-22 remained far
forward at high altitude, with an advanced radar it could monitor rescue
missions that the AWACS 150 mi. away could not. “We could see the
helicopters down in the valleys and protect them,” Tolliver says. In
addition to AWACS, the F-22 also can feed data to the RC-135 Rivet Joint
signals intelligence aircraft to improve situational awareness of the
battlespace. “If a Rivet Joint is trying to get triangulation [on a
precise emitter location], he can get more [voice] information” from an
F-22, Keys says. “If an An F-15E, left , F-15C and F-22 get together
over one of Alaska’s glaciers after racking up a combined one-day kill
ratio of 83-1 during Northern Edge, the Raptor’s first large-scale
air-to-air exercise. a single, easy-to-read screen. “When I look down at
my scope and put my cursor over a [friendly] F-15 or F/A-18, it tells me
who they are locked on to,” he says. For example, “I could help them
out by saying, ‘You’re doubletargeted and there’s a group over here
untargeted’ . . . to make sure we got ever ybody.” F-15 targets will
be latent because of the radar sweep. However, these messages are less and
less verbal. “When you watch [tapes of the Alaska] exercise, it’s
fairly spooky,” says Gen. Ronald Keys, chief of Air Combat Command.
“There’s hardly a word spoken among Raptor pilots.” That silence
also previews some of the fighter’s possible future capabilities.
“Because of the way the aircraft was designed, we have the capability to
do more,” Keys says. “We can put unmanned combat aircraft systems in
there with Raptor. You’ve got three fairly lowwww.aviationweek.com/awst
A ACS sees a heavy group 40 mi. to the W north, Raptor can come up and say
it’s two F-18s, two F-15s and four F-16s.” Moreover, Keys says,
modifications are under way to transmit additional target
parameters—such as sensitive, high-resolution infrared data—from the
F-22 with a low-probability-of-intercept data link. “Getting data into
an F-22 is not hard,” Keys says. “Getting it out [while staying low
observable] is more difficult. We bought the links, but we just don’t
have them on yet.” The F-22’s advanced electronic surveillance sensors
also provided additional awareness of ground activity. “I could talk to
an EA-6B Prowler electronic attack crew and tell them where a
surface-to-air missile site was active so they would immediately know
where to point their electronic warfare sensors,” Tolliver says. “That
decreased their targeting time line considerably.” In addition, the F-22
can use its electronic surveillance capabilities to conduct precision
bombing strikes on emitters—a capability called destruction of enemy air
defenses. “A nd future editions of the F-22 are predicted to have to have
their own electronic attack capability so that we’ll be able to suppress
or nonkinetically kill a site like that,” he says. The F-22’s
operating altitude and additional speed during the Alaska exercise also
garnered praise. “We stayed high because it gives us an extra kinetic
advantage with shooting, speed and fuel consumption,” Tolliver says.
“The Raptor typically flies way higher than everybody else and it
handles like a dream at those altitudes.” Tolliver wouldn’t confirm
the operating altitude, but Pentagon officials have put it at 65,000 ft.,
which is at least 15,000 ft. higher than the other fighters. “T here
were times we went lower, maybe to visually identify a threat or if we
were out of Amraams and there was a bandit sneaking in at low altitude,”
he says. “The Raptor would roll in and kill him with a heat-seeking
missile.” T he lopsided combat ratio resulted because, “they never saw
us,” Tolliver says. “We got there without being detected, and we killed
them rapidly. We didn’t do any major turning. It’s not that the J-Turn
maneuver isn’t fun, but we didn’t get a chance to use it.” The
F-22’s Mach 1.5 supercruise capabilit y also got a workout in Alaska.
Because only eight F-22s were ever airborne at once during the exercise,
four of them were constantly involved in refueling from tankers flying
orbits 150 mi. away. Supercruise got the fighters there and back quickly.
On station, the fighter would conserve fuel by cruising at high altitude.
“We also used supercruise quite a bit because the fight was on such a
large scale,” Tolliver says. “The airspace was roughly 120 mi. by 140
mi. We could sit up at high altitude and save our gas and watch. We
don’t hang out at Mach 1.5. With our acceleration, when we saw the
threats building, because we could see them so far out, we’d dump the
nose over, light the burners and we were right up to fighting speed.”
During a typical day in the Alaska “war,” 24 air-to-air fighters,
including up to eight F-22s, defended their aerial assets and homeland for
2.5 hr. Air Force F-15s and F-16s and Marine F/A18s simulated up to 40
MiG-29s, Su-22s, Su-24s, Su-27s and Su-30s which regenerated into 103
enemy sorties in a single period . They carried AA-10s A to F, Archers,
AA-12 Adders and the Chinese-built PL-12. These were supported by SA-6,
SA-10 and SA-20 surface to air missiles and an EA-6B for jamming. Each
day, the red air became stronger and carried more capability. As a result
of all the emitters in the battlespace, the F-22’s ability to map the
AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JANUARY 8, 2007 3   Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid
characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning :
Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the
current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in
Unknown on line 0        

Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007

Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 1
Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 2
Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 3
Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 4
Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 5
Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 6
Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 7
Aviation Week & Space Technology January 8, 2007 - 8
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com