Lockheed F-22A Raptor

1/72 scale
Kit No. 04386
Price: $19.99
Decals: Five versions – All USAF (for 27th, 43rd, 90th, 94th, and 302nd Fighter Squadrons)
Comments: Engraved panel lines, detailed cockpit and landing gear, optional position canopy, optional position landing gear, option to depict weapons bays open or closed; full complement of AIM-120 missiles, with two AIM-9M and two AIM-9X missiles, two 500 lb. JDAM bombs, two external drop tanks

History

The Lockheed F-22 Raptor is the Air Force’s newest fighter aircraft. It was designed to maintain the air dominance achieved by the McDonnell-Douglas F-15, and to eventually replace it. The F-15 has never been beaten in aerial combat, with a record of 104 kills with zero losses. However, two current Russian fighters, the MiG-29 and Su-27 are technologically equal to the F-15, and more recent aircraft including the French Rafale, Eurofighter 2000, and the Russian Su-35 and T-50 surpass the F-15’s performance. Facing these new challenges to American power, the F-22’s combination of stealth, supercruise, maneuverability, and integrated avionics, represents an exponential leap in air combat capabilities.

The Raptor performs both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions vital to the 21st century Air Force. The F-22, a critical component of the Global Strike Task Force, is designed to project air dominance, rapidly and at great distances, and defeat threats attempting to deny access to our nation’s Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The F-22 cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft.

The origin of the F-22 can be traced to a Tactical Air Command study from the early 1970’s called TAC-85. TAC-85 started inquiries into what the fighters of the 21st Century would look like, not merely in terms of design, but their systems, capabilities, and new technologies they might incorporate. This led the USAF Systems Command to devise a plan to build two sets of ATF (Advanced Tacticial Fighter) prototypes by the early 1980’s, but this plan languished for years for lack of funds. Air Force doctrine of the ’70’s planned for all-out conventional war in Europe, and rested primarily on three pillars in terms of air assets: The F-15 Eagle, which would shoot down swarms of aircraft with long-range radar and air-to-air missiles, the F-16, initially designed as a lightweight point defense interceptor and tactical fighter, and the A-10 Thunderbolt II (better known as the Warthog) to hunt and destroy enemy armor.

The publication of the Advanced Tactical Fighter Statement of Operational Need in November 1984 led to Congressional approval for funds to develop an ATF in 1985, and a Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in July 1986; a parallel process for development of new engines had already resulted in an RFP for an ATF powerplant in May 1983. Roll-out of the prototypes was scheduled for mid-1989. ATF prototypes would have to carry twice the internal fuel of the F-15 and have 30 percent more combat weight. In August 1991, Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice announced that the Lockheed YF-22 with Pratt & Whitney F119 engines had won the ATF contract. According to the Air Force, the F-22 was a better design for maintenance, greater potential for future development, and slightly lower cost. At the time, Secretary Rice denied that either prototype was significantly more maneuverable or stealthy (although subsequent publications have since revealed that the F-22 was/is more maneuverable and the YF-23 more stealthy). The Air Force initially intended to buy 648 F-22’s at a cost of $86.6 billion. In September 1993, this number was cut to 442 at an estimated cost of $71.6 billion, and ultimately reduced further to 187.

Design Features
In terms of design, some features typically seen on fighter aircraft were dropped due to their negative effect on stealth. Variable geometry intake ramps were incompatible with stealth, so the F-22s intakes are of the fixed geometry type. The intake trunking curves inward and upward, shielding the face of the engine and its turbine blades from illumination by enemy radars. While roughly the same size as the F-15, the F-22 is heavier, weighing 66,000 lbs in clean configuration. Some of the Raptor’s stealth is due to RAM (radar absorbent materials), which coat all internal and external metal areas, but they are less prevalent on the F-22 airframe than that of the F-117 Nighthawk. Radar absorbent paint (RAP) is also employed, and has improved in recent years to slash the required man-hours for maintanence. Such advances in low-observable technologies provide significantly improved survivability and lethality against air-to-air and surface-to-air threats, giving the F-22 half the radar signature of the McDonnell-Douglas F-15. Titanium, which offers higher temperature resistance to structural breakdown, an important factor in supercruise mode, accounts for 42 percent of the Raptor’s weight.

State-of-the-Art Cockpit
The F-22’s cockpit is “all-glass” meaning there are no traditional round dial gauges, and is the first “night vision goggle capable” cockpit. It also can be adapted for helmet-mounted systems, the “next big thing” in Head-Up Display which is already in use on aircraft such as the AV-8 Harrier. As of 2017, the Raptor featured a GEC-built Head-Up Display which serves as the primary flight instrument for the pilot. Like the F-16, the F-22 has a side-stick controller for the pilot on the right side instrument panel, with grips of both stick and throttles including buttons and switches coded by shape and texture to control more than 60 time-critical functions.

Avionics Highlights
The F-22 has the first integrated avionics suite ever in a combat aircraft: Northrop/Grumman-Texas Instruments APG-777 radar, a Lockheed Martin electronic warfare suite, and TRW communications/navigation and IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) subsystems, all provide the pilot with a constant stream of vital information. The AN/APG-77 (A: piloted aircraft; P: radar; G: fire control or light directing) radar is the most advanced radar in the world. It is the primary Raptor sensor, and unlike other radars, its antenna does not move, being integrated physically and electromagnetically throughout the airframe, eliminating linkages and motors and saving weight.

Threat Assessment and Armament
A combination of sensor capability, integrated avionics, situational awareness, and weapons provides first-kill opportunity against threats. The F-22 has a sophisticated sensor suite allowing the pilot to track, identify, shoot and destroy air-to-air threats before being detected. Significant advances in cockpit design and sensor fusion provide the pilot with state-of-the-art situational awareness. Its integral M61A2 20mm cannon, located in the starboard wing root, is a proven design, having outfitted U.S. fighter aircraft dating back to the Convair F-106. In the air-to-air configuration the Raptor carries six AIM-120C AMRAAMs and two AIM-9 Sidewinders. The AIM-120C is the latest version of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, developed to replace the AIM-7 Sparrow.

Unlike the Sparrow, the AIM-120C has all-weather, all-environment launch capability. It also boasts a range of at least 30 miles and a terminal velocity of Mach 4. It gets target information from the aircraft systems before launch, and once launched, it can operate autonomously using its own inertial guidance system and an active radar, giving the F-22 “fire and forget” capability. However, if necessary it can receive mid-course target updates from the launch aircraft. The F-22 has a significant air-to-ground capability, and in this configuration can carry two 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions internally and will use on-board avionics for navigation and targeting. In the future air-to-ground capability will be enhanced with the addition of an upgraded radar and up to eight small diameter bombs. The Raptor will also carry two AIM-120s and two AIM-9s in the air-to-ground configuration.

The F-22 engines produce more thrust than any current fighter powerplant. The combination of sleek aerodynamic design and increased thrust allows the F-22 to cruise at supersonic airspeeds (greater than 1.5 Mach) without using afterburner — a characteristic known as supercruise. Supercruise greatly expands the F-22 ‘s operating envelope in both speed and range over the overwhelming majority of today’s fighters, which must use fuel-consuming afterburner to operate at supersonic speeds. The sophisticated F-22 design, advanced flight controls, thrust vectoring, and high thrust-to-weight ratio provide the capability to outmaneuver all current and projected aircraft.

The F-22’s characteristics provide it with the ability to prevail against all known advanced air threats. The combination of stealth, integrated avionics and supercruise drastically reduces surface-to-air missile engagement envelopes and minimizes enemy capabilities to track and engage the F-22. The combination of reduced observability and supercruise accentuates the advantage of surprise in a tactical environment. While intended to replace the F-15 Eagle, in part due to the reduced force of 187 aircraft, the F-22 will soldier alongside the F-15 for several years to come.

The Kit

The F-22A Raptor is molded in Revell’s classic pale grey-green and consists of 116 parts, including a single piece bubble canopy with a faint yellow-green tint. The kit features recessed panel lines throughout the external surface of the airframe. The cockpit features a detailed ACES II ejection seat, separately mounted side-stick controller and a main instrument panel faithful to the original in that it features a series of flat screens and is devoid of any round gauges (NOTE: At first glance the decal sheet provides no instrument panel decal, but they are there, broken up into four small phosphorescent blue squares for the main panel’s individual flat screens).

The kit features internal intake trunking and a detailed weapons bay, which can be depicted open or closed. If open, the kit includes six (6) AIM-120 air-to -air missiles and what appear to be two (2) 500 lb. JDAM bombs. There is an option to carry the full complement of six AIM-120’s, or two AIM-120’s with the two JDAMs. The JDAMs themselves are fairly well detailed, consisting of four parts each with the tail guidance kit molded as an integral part of the bomb casing. There are two separate parts forming the detailed side weapons bays, which like the main weapons bay must be cemented into the lower fuselage half. There are two different variants of the short-range Sidewinder missile to choose from0, with two (2) AIM-9M and two (2) AIM-9X missiles provided — each of the side weapons bays can house only one missile, and as in the case of the main weapons bay, the modeler will have the option to depict the side bays open or closed.

The engine exhaust assembly has the rear engine faces recessed well back from the openings, as on the actual aircraft. All tail surfaces are separately mounted. The landing gear are well detailed with each of the tires bearing circumferential tread, and the gear doors bearing extensive internal ribbing detail. The cockpit canopy can be displayed open or closed, and two under wing external fuel tanks round out the kit parts. There is a four-view drawing provided to assist painting and decal placement. Colors are called out in Federal Standard numbers only, with the instructions calling for a two-tone camouflage paint scheme of grey mixed with white (ratio of 80% to 20%) over bluish grey mixed with white (ratio of 90% to 10%). The nose as well as all leading, side, and trailing edges of the wings and tail surfaces are to be painted light grey mixed with white (80% to 20%).

Markings

The kit decals appear to be of high quality and are printed in Italy. They provide for five different versions of USAF aircraft, all with similar paint schemes as described above. The first is for the Commander’s aircraft of the 94th Fighter Squadron based at Langley AFB, Virginia, circa 2006. This squadron was the second one to take delivery of the F-22, dates back to World War I and is the “Hat in the Ring” squadron of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the ranking American ace of that war); the second is for the Commander’s aircraft of the 27th Fighter Squadron, also based at Langley AFB, Virginia in 2006. The 27th was the first unit to take delivery of the F-22; the third is for the Commanders’ aircraft of the 90th and 302nd Fighter Squadrons based at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska in 2007; and the fourth version is for the Commander’s aircraft of the 43rd Fighter Squadron based at Tyndall AFB, Florida in May 2007.

Conclusion

This is an exceptionally detailed kit of America’s premier air superiority fighter. The option to depict it in flight and the alternative armament provided are a big plus.  Highly recommended.

References

• www.af.mil
• F-22 Raptor in Action by Lou Drendel; Squadron Signal Publications, Copyright 2011 and 2017, Carrollton, Texas.