Inside the F-22's Design

The F-22's supercruise is powered by two Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan engines, each producing thrust in the 35,000-pound class. This allows the Raptor to achieve speeds over Mach 1.5 without the fuel-intensive afterburners required by legacy fighters. The F119 engine was developed as part of the Advanced Tactical Fighter program, which began in the 1980s to counter advanced Soviet jets like the Su-27 and MiG-29. A key to the Raptor's agility is its two-dimensional pitch thrust vectoring nozzles, which can direct engine thrust up or down by 20 degrees. This capability is integrated into the flight control system, allowing the F-22 to perform aggressive maneuvers, including high angle-of-attack flying and rapid vertical climbs. The combination of thrust vectoring and a high thrust-to-weight ratio gives the F-22 a significant advantage in dogfighting scenarios. The F-22's airframe is composed of advanced materials to handle the stresses of supersonic flight, with titanium alloys making up 42% and composites 24% of its structural weight. Its design features a blended wing-body, large control surfaces, and leading-edge extensions that generate strong vortex lift for enhanced stability and control during high-G maneuvers. This aerodynamic instability in pitch is intentionally designed to improve the aircraft's responsiveness. During the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition, the Lockheed YF-22 prototype was selected over the Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23. While the YF-23 was considered stealthier and had a higher top speed, the YF-22 was more agile. The first F-22 flight occurred on September 7, 1997, and the aircraft officially entered service in December 2005. The total program cost for the 195 F-22s produced was approximately $67.3 billion. The combination of stealth, supercruise, and integrated avionics drastically reduces the engagement range for enemy surface-to-air missiles and minimizes their ability to track the aircraft.