Raptor Declared Combat Ready
Lockheed Martin's F-22A Raptor surpassed a monumental milestone
Thursday when the United States Air Force declared the Raptor has
reached initial operational capability -- meaning it is officially
ready to serve on the front lines. General Ronald E. Keys,
Commander of Air Combat Command, made the historic announcement at
Langley Air Force Base, VA, from a Raptor hangar near his
headquarters.
"The F-22A fulfills a long quest to bring 5th generation
capabilities of stealth, supercruise, and precision to the
warfighter today and for decades to come," said General Keys in an
Air Force news release. "If we go to war tomorrow, the Raptor will
go with us."
The Air Force is now capable of deploying and supporting 12
F-22A Raptor aircraft anywhere in the world to execute air-to-air
and air-to-ground missions. The Raptor is also qualified to perform
homeland defense missions when required.
"F-22A IOC means our warfighters now have an unprecedented
lethal mix of air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities at their
disposal," added General Keys. "The Raptor’s cutting edge
technology brings us continued joint air dominance despite
advancing enemy threats."
With the announcement came a change in the aircraft's official
designator. While the Raptor was known as the F-22 since the first
prototype flights in the early 1990s, an "A" designator was added
in late 2002 to reflect the aircraft's ground-attack capabilities,
as well as divert some of the financial sting from critics who
called the fighter too expensive.
"This isn’t your father’s F-22," then-Air Force
Secretary Jim Roche said in a 2002 interview.
Although the aircraft has since once again reverted to being
known as the F-22A (with the "A" signifying the aircraft series,
and not its capabilities) its likely nothing has been lost in the
aircraft's actual performance -- especially since many of the
Raptor's capabilities remain classified.
The Raptor is built by Lockheed Martin in partnership with
Boeing, with its revolutionary "supercruise"-capable engines
provided by Pratt & Whitney. Approximately 1,000 suppliers in
42 states provide parts and subsystems.
F-22 production takes place at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
facilities in Palmdale, CA; Meridian, MS; Marietta, GA; and Fort
Worth, TX, as well as at Boeing's plant in Seattle, WA. Final
assembly and initial flight testing of the Raptor occurs at the
Marietta plant facilities.