A Sample Feature From Aviation News

Lockheed's Dynamic Duo –
Today’s technologies for yesterday’s wars?

Above: Lightning II makes its debut as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen T Michael Moseley announced the new name for the Lockheed Martin F-35 during the inauguration ceremony at Fort Worth, Tex, on July 7, 2006. (Photo, USAF).

Make no mistake – the Lockheed Martin
F-22A Raptor is technologically a true successor to the Boeing F-15 Eagle, which is probably still the finest fighter in service on a significant scale anywhere in the world.  The F-15 represents a major landmark in fighter development, combining outstanding manoeuvrability with eight air-to-air missiles for combat persistence, and sufficient ‘top-end’ (high-Mach, high altitude) performance to intercept the MiG-25R (and to launch anti-satellite missiles, had that proved necessary). Although designed with ‘not a pound for air-to-ground’, the F-15 was developed into a very successful multi-role strike fighter (the
F-15E) that wins export orders even today, more than 30 years after the USAF’s first F-15A squadron was declared operational at Langley AFB in Virginia.
New challenges.
By 21st Century standards, with any new fighter expected to remain in service for many decades, it may appear surprising that the USAF plans to replace the F-15A began in 1981, only six years after it entered service.   Looking for a further major advance, the fifth-generation ATF (Advanced Tecchnology Fighter) was required to counter large numbers of advanced Soviet fighters, operating in conjunction with long-range ground-based radars and SAM systems (the ‘anti-access threat’). The ATF as planned in the 1980s would combine breakthroughs in stealth, manoeuvrability and sensor-fusion, and provide the USAF with total air dominance from Day One of any conflict that could then be foreseen.
Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the Pentagon’s conceptual opponent became ‘a rogue state’ (such as Libya, North Korea or Iran) equipped with the latest Russian combat aircraft and air defence systems.  More recently, official US documents have referred to a ‘near-peer threat’, which is generally interpreted as China, some years down the tracks. The favoured scenario is the defence of Taiwan against a Chinese invasion, preceded by air strikes. To meet the new challenge (as then foreseen), the ATF was to be designed for all-aspect stealth, rather than allowing reduced head-on radar cross-section to dominate the design. Low observability dictated the use of internal weapon bays (in this case for both short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles) and low-depth rectangular-section jet exhaust nozzles. Such nozzles also suited the need to vector thrust in pitch for STOL performance and enhanced manoeuvrability at low airspeeds.  The ATF was also to be given an extremely high thrust/weight ratio (a nominal 1.4:1) for unprecedented specific excess power. It was to use engines of low bypass ratio, to produce a flat ‘dry’ thrust curve, rather than thrust falling as speed increases, as in the case of a high-bypass engine. This would make possible non-afterburning ‘super-cruise’ at around Mach 1.4, saving fuel for enhanced range and minimising the thermal signature.

Above: Seconded from the Pacific Air Force headquarters’ advanced programmes office, USAF Maj Don Borchett flies the F-35 JSF aircraft simulator at Hickham Air Force Base, Hawaii. (Photo, USAF).

Cutting metal
The RFP (request for proposals) was issued in 1985, and in 1986 Lockheed Martin, teamed with Boeing and General Dynamics, was awarded a contract to produce two
YF-22A prototypes. Northrop Grumman and McDonnell Douglas were likewise contracted to build two YF-23As. The first YF-22A (PAV-1, serial 87-0700) had its maiden flight on September 29, 1990, followed by the second (PAV-2, serial 87-0701) on October 30, 1990. They were tested with both Pratt & Whitney YF119 and General Electric YF120 engines. In August 1991 the Lockheed Martin F-22, equipped with two 35,000lb P&W F119-PW-100 engines, was selected to go forward into the EMD (engineering and manufacturing development) phase. This was to include the construction and testing of nine single-seat aircraft (serials 91-4001 to –4009, the last four digits representing their Lockheed Martin construction numbers). Plans for a pair of two-seat EMD aircraft were subsequently dropped.

In September 1992 a ground-attack mission was added to make the aircraft more Congress-friendly, and it became the F/A-22. At the unveiling of the first EMD aircraft in April 1997 the F/A-22 was formally named ‘Raptor’. It had its maiden flight on September 7, 1997. The F/A-22 designation lasted only until late 2005, when it was decided that ‘Attack’ was the kind of language that only Navy people use. The EMD aircraft were followed by two production-representative test vehicles (99-4010 and –4011) and six PRTV-II aircraft (00-4012 to –4017).  Next came a series of low-rate initial production (LRIP) orders: ten aircraft in Lot One (01-4018 to –4027), 13 in Lot Two (02-4028 to –4040), 21 in Lot Three (03-4041 to –4061), 22 in Lot Four (04-4062 to –4083), 24 in Lot Five (05-4084 to –4107) and 24 in Lot Six (06-4108 to –4131). 
The first production delivery (serial 01-4018) was to Tyndall AFB, Fla, on September 26, 2003. Following the current Block 10 F-22s, Lot Five aircraft are being built to Block 20 standard, which will have full air-to-air capability and clearance for the supersonic release of JDAM.  Lot Six of Block 30 aircraft will have an improved version of the Northrop Grumman APG-77 radar, two-way Link 16 data-link, and clearance for the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb. Having earlier planned to ask for funds for 29 F-22s in FY2007, the number was then zeroed by the USAF, in the expectation that procurement could be completed more economically under a later multi-year deal.  However, in August 2006 the Senate added $1.4bn funding for 20 F-22s in the FY2007 budget.

Cutting back
In the 1980s it was planned that 750 ATFs would be produced, in order to replace F-15s on roughly a one-for-one basis.  However, the USAF now plans to keep 170 F-15Es and 48 ANG F-15Cs in service until at least 2025. The total number of ATFs was first cut from 750 to 648, and then 422.  At time of writing the number of F-22s planned is 183, but the USAF hopes to buy close to 60 (on top of the current 131) under a proposed three-year (FY2008-2010) contract.  In the likely event that deliveries of the F-35 are delayed, the USAF will want to keep the F-22 production line open, with a further 40 probably to be requested under FY2011-2012 funding. This could produce a domestic Raptor total of around 230. The USAF rationale is that, to provide a traditional-size (24-aircraft) Raptor squadron for each of the ten Aerospace Expeditionary Forces (AEFs), the service needs 240 combat-capable F-22s.  Using established percentage allowances for attrition, trials and training aircraft, and those in maintenance, ten squadrons would actually require the service to purchase no less than 381. 

But this is a pipedream. As things stand (with only 183 aircraft planned), the USAF could have five 24-aircraft Raptor squadrons, but the service is currently planning seven 18-aircraft units. It thus appears possible that, instead of being a standard part of every AEF, the Raptor will join the ‘low density/high demand’ category of the U-2, JStars and AWACS, aircraft that are assigned to AEFs only as needed. The first F-22 unit, the 27th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Wing, attained initial operational capability (IOC) at Langley AFB in mid-December 2005, when 12 aircraft were declared available for global deployment. Some F-22s are still employed in developmental flight tests at Edwards AFB, California. Others are used for tactics development by the 422nd Test & Evaluation Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nevada.  F-22s are being operated by the 94th FS (the second unit at Langley), the 149th FS of the ANG at Sandstone, Virginia, and at Tyndall AFB, Florida, where the 43rd FS of the 325th FW provides pilot and maintainer training.

Above: Spanning five decades of aeronautical achievement and five generations of manned combat fighter, flight tests with the Boeing Joint Unmanned Combat Air System at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Centre involve a diverse set of aircraft. From left to right, the J-UCAS Lockheed T-33, the F-15E1 advanced technology demonstrator and the J-UCAS Boeing X-45A, seen together in June 2004. (Photo, Boeing). Below: Boeing’s Bird of Prey programme demonstrated pioneering techniques of manufacture and materials technology currently unavailable but which will surely become an integral part of future manned or unmanned aircraft when the long-delayed F-22 and F-35 are in middle-age – and looking very old. (Photo, Boeing).

Paying the price
Nobody doubts that the F-22 is a major advance over the F-15 as a means to gain aerial dominance in any near-term scenario, even if outnumbered by the latest products from Sukhoi, and faced with the most advanced integrated radar networks, controlling SAM systems that can reach out hundreds of kilometres.  There is, however, little likelihood of such a situation arising for at least another two decades (although current Pentagon planning anticipates 2015 for these exotic systems – Ed).  Nor can it be doubted that during this period the F-15 (with radar upgrade) will be perfectly capable of dealing with the fighter opposition, although it would clearly lack penetration capability. 
Continuing to fund procurement of the
F-22 beyond the 131 under contract may use funds that could benefit more important programmes.  For example, further technological developments are arguably needed to pave the way for a truly revolutionary manned or unmanned ‘aerospace-fighter’ to enter service around 2030, when the US might really be faced with a ‘near-peer’ military rival and when the F-22 will be looking long-in-the-tooth. One of the problems in assessing the shelf-life of the F-22 is that nobody knows how long radar stealth will remain viable. If America is planning space-based high-power laser weapons and orbiting radar antennas the size of football pitches, other nations will follow suit. For a downward-looking radar, even the best stealth aircraft is just a black hole moving across the terrain, something that can be tracked and attacked.
Another key reason to believe that the
F-22 is simply not revolutionary enough is that it represents little improvement over the F-15 in terms of dependence on overseas bases. These may not be made available by the host nation when the need arises, and they may be rendered unusable through strikes by ballistic missiles with NBC warheads. Such considerations have led the USAF to study a range of alternatives that will eventually give America the capability to strike anywhere in the world at short notice and independent of overseas bases. The USAF’s Long Range Strike (LRS) programme might result in a new subsonic or supersonic strategic bomber entering service around 2020.  In this context, it may be noteworthy that Lockheed Martin has exhibited a model of a 70-tonne Mach 2 unmanned aircraft.
Another LRS alternative is the ‘arsenal aircraft’, a transport such as the Boeing
C-17, armed with large numbers of ballistic or cruise missiles. Such aircraft could carry a heavier warload than a bomber, but it would have to operate well outside enemy air defences. BAE Systems and Allied Techsystems (ATK) have jointly proposed a modified Boeing 747 armed with up to 70 vertically-launched missiles. As part of the LRS study, aircraft systems are being compared with future long-range ground-, sea- or space-based missiles. Under the Prompt Global Strike initiative, USAF Space Command has been studying the use of the Minuteman III ICBM with a conventional warhead.  This will compete with or complement the US Navy’s similarly modified, submarine-launched Trident D-5.

Above: Lockheed Martin’s F-35 manufacturing techniques are state-of-the-art but leave open to question the degree of dependency on existing and proven methods, incorporating exotic materials and efficient information transfer systems for subcontractors and suppliers, but doing little to push technologies. (Photo, Lockheed Martin).

For the rest of this feature please see the November 2006 issue.