The first American fifth-generation fighter F-22 Raptor, which made its first flight 25 years ago, looks like a failure, writes the American magazine Military Watch.
The promising fifth-generation aircraft was developed as part of the Advanced Tactical Fighter program, which was initiated in the 1980s. The first pre-production model of the F-22 took to the air in 1994 – after the collapse of the USSR. Therefore, the costs of the program were reduced, which led to delays. The first combat unit of the US Air Force completely switched to the F-22 in 2004.
It is noted that the troops recognized the aircraft as problematic. The pilots developed a "Raptor cough" due to the design of the altitude-compensating suit, which squeezed the chest, and the high maintenance requirements of the F-22 led to low readiness indicators.
"Some of the most serious problems with the F-22 concerned its avionics, since the computer architecture of the fighter was actually outdated by the time it entered service due to very long delays in the program," the author of the publication writes. The F-22 cannot exchange information with other fighter units, and the absence of a helmet-mounted display system reduces the effectiveness of long-range weapons.
In August, the publication 19FortyFive suggested that the F-22s transferred to Europe would have to solve the dangerous task of countering Russian aircraft if they entered the identification zone of Poland's air defense.
