Air Force Community - Air Force Times

The case for the Raptor

During the coming weeks, Congress will debate a stimulus package designed to revive our nation’s faltering economy. However, even during this period of uncertainty, a critical opportunity has arisen to make investments that will become the foundation not only for near-term economic recovery but for lasting economic strength.

Prudent, enduring investments are essential for a growing economy. Visionary decisions are essential to preserve our nation’s long-term security. Just as Wall Street and our government must relearn financial fundamentals, we must not forget the tenets of Gens. William “Billy” Mitchell and Carl Spaatz, who emphasized the necessity of air superiority to ensure America’s ability to conventionally deter or eliminate threats anywhere in the world.

Today, only one aircraft, the F-22 Raptor, meets those fundamental principles, guaranteeing our nation’s pre-eminence in the air.

Some seek to end production of this unprecedented fighter/bomber before sufficient numbers are procured. Fortunately, the opportunity to ensure our nation makes the proper long-term investment in F-22 production will present itself to President Barack Obama days after his inauguration. Under current law, the new president will have until March 1 to authorize the continued production of the F-22, which has the increasingly novel distinction of being manufactured on time and on budget.

For a relativity modest sum, potential adversaries, such as Iran, with its oil wealth and apparent insistence on developing nuclear weapons, could acquire advanced anti-access air defense systems. Such systems could include the next generation of Russian surface-to-air missiles, such as the S-300 and S-400. This would make penetrating a defended airspace extremely difficult for aircraft that lack advanced stealth technology and the sustained supersonic speeds of supercruise engines.

Since the F-22 is now, and will be for the foreseeable future, the only aircraft that combines these two technologies, it will be the weapon of choice to hunt and destroy ground targets that threaten peace and security.

How does the F-22 perform against other fighters? The Raptor is the most maneuverable fighter flying today. During a recent exercise, it dispatched 144 challengers versus the loss of only one aircraft.

Possible ISR role

An overlooked aspect of this multirole fighter is its remarkable sensor-fused avionics. The F-22 can detect and engage enemy aircraft and surface threats well before an enemy can engage it. Simultaneously, its advanced sensors enable the Raptor to be an undetected forward surveillance platform.

In fact, an F-22 could be an appropriate platform to perform the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance role in threatened airspace.

Yet despite these unmatched capabilities, few aircraft have been as unfairly maligned as the F-22. Epithets of “Cold War dinosaur” are continually hurled at this aircraft. However, if producing additional F-22s is a fool’s errand, why are the Chinese and Russians attempting to build aircraft with similar capabilities?

Recent media reports have stated that China is attempting to develop a twin-engine, stealth fighter known as XXJ or J-12. Other reports have discussed how India has joined Russia’s effort, called PAK-FA, to develop a stealth fighter capable of supercruise flight.

Opponents contend that if additional aircraft are necessary, we should extend the life of or even procure additional F-15 Eagles. But the F-15 is more than 30 years old and recently suffered a number of catastrophic accidents that have been attributed to the aircraft’s degrading structural integrity.

Therefore, a legitimate question arises as to how much longer we can effectively sustain the Eagle before additional aircraft fall from the sky? Even if new F-15s are procured and equipped with advanced radar systems, the Eagle will still lack an essential capability: stealth.

Detractors also argue, erroneously, that the role of the F-22 can be filled by the F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter. The Raptor and the Joint Strike Fighter were designed to complement each other, not be substituted for each other.

The F-22 is the “NASCAR racer” of this air dominance team. Fast and unseen, the Raptor will punch a hole in an enemy’s defenses, quickly dispatch any challenger in the air and strike at the most important ground targets.

The Joint Strike Fighter is the rugged “SUV” of the team. Impressive, but not as maneuverable or capable of sustained supersonic speeds, the F-35 will exploit the hole opened by the F-22 and attack additional targets and directly support ground forces.

This is not to say that the F-35 is not a highly capable fifth-generation stealthy aircraft. But the F-35’s role is to supplement the F-22, not substitute for it. Only by utilizing the strengths of both aircraft do we ensure air dominance for the next 40 years.

The time for dynamic, long-term investments is now. Our new president has the opportunity to ensure our security in the skies. I am confident he will make the right decision.

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Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is the longest-serving Republican on the Intelligence Committee.