F-22 RAPTOR DOCUMENTARY

Video from the channel Aviation Technology Space Channel about Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 44:23. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Documentary on the origin and development of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, from the requirements of the US Air Force's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program to the first delivered units. It combines archival footage, test imagery, and interviews with engineers, program managers, and test and operational pilots. Based on the figures it cites (deliveries, the production rate projected for 2004), it is a piece produced in the mid-2000s, when the aircraft was still designated F/A-22.

The narrative places the program in the Cold War: the appearance of the MiG-29 and the Sukhoi T-10 prototype, detected by US satellites in the late 1970s, raised fears that the F-15's superiority would be short-lived. In the early 1980s the Air Force decided to seek a successor combining stealth, supersonic cruise without afterburner, and maneuverability equal to or better than the F-15's. Lockheed's experience with the F-117 and Northrop's with the B-2 put both companies at the head of the competition. On October 31, 1986, their two designs were selected for the demonstration and validation phase, in which each team would build two prototypes. In 1987 Lockheed discarded its initial design and, in about three months, arrived at the configuration that would lead to the F-22.

Northrop's YF-23 flew first, in August 1990, with Paul Metz at the controls; the YF-22 flew on September 29 at Edwards Air Force Base, piloted by Dave Ferguson. In ninety days, Lockheed's two prototypes logged 72 flights, including launches of a Sidewinder and an AMRAAM from the internal bays. In 1991 the contract was awarded to the Lockheed, Boeing, and General Dynamics team for 9.5 billion dollars. That same year, a YF-22 piloted by Tom Morgenfeld crashed on landing, with no harm to the pilot. The first production aircraft was unveiled on April 9, 1997, in Marietta, Georgia. The documentary describes the internal weapons bays, the S-shaped intake ducts, the sensor fusion in the cockpit, and exercises in which a single Raptor faced several F-15s. It cites 27 delivered aircraft and a unit cost of 93 million dollars.