Can anything match the F-22 in 2022?

the f-22 raptor has its roots in the 1980s the us air force devised a set of requirements then and in 1985 issued a request for design proposals two of which reached the demonstrator stage in the year 1990 a year later lockheed's design won the cold war was over by then urgency was low so it took until 1997 for the prototype to fly an actual serial production followed a few years later so the rapture is now 20 to 30 years old based on design ideas that are perhaps even older yet it's still considered by most to be the best jet fighter in existence even today so how does it stack up against its competitors in 2022 [Music] the f-22 is a cool plane not really affordable to most but our sponsor bespoke post has something both cool and affordable what they do is send gift boxes on a monthly basis for 45 dollars you get a gift box tailored to you based on the preference quiz you take every box has items inside worth roughly 70 dollars in retail value and there's a bunch of different boxes 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be compared with the f22 we'll have to keep this video manageable so we'll keep down the list to just a few planes the russian su-57 the chinese j-20 and the uss own f-35a the latter choice is not so strange as its mere existence influenced the choice to cut f22 production short so we'll see just how much the f35a is behind the raptor and in which areas it beats it the j20 is an understandable choice as its numbers keep growing quickly it's poised to outnumber the f-22 fleet in the near future and it's going to remain the most cutting-edge chinese fighter for some time to come the c-57 is only starting to get delivered to the russian air force it will take a few more years until it matures and reaches active service still is by far the best russian plane important note only the performance of the 2022 models is taken into account future upgrades even if they're only a year away are disregarded this video will compare said planes in various areas acceleration and speed maneuverability range weapons capability in air-to-air missions various sensors and ancillary systems and stealth to the extent it can be assessed actually as you can imagine a lot of the points will need to be estimated we're talking about new planes with often classified specifications starting with acceleration for example it's a product of installed thrust versus weight of course only uninstalled thrust figures are ever given for engines so we'll have to use those as an approximation the j20 thrust figures are based on a range of engines available to the chinese to simplify empty weights are estimated rather than operational weights but roughly speaking the f-22 has the best thrust-to-weight ratio and might have the best acceleration in the subsonic regime past a margin of around 5 there is more to acceleration like drag reports claim the f35 has the most issues in the transonic range and high supersonic range due to its shape and layout which impacts both top speed and acceleration maximum speed is a function of many factors most of which aren't publicly available the j20 was cited to be in the mach 2 class by the manufacturer so using various claims allows for the creation of a rough table of comparison it's important to also note that practical mission capabilities change when a plane is laden with fuel and weapons super cruise speed or how fast the plane can go without ever using afterburners was however publicly stated by the us air force it's an impressive number that other planes don't come close to some planes like the f-35a can also maintain low supersonic speed without afterburners once they use them to get through the high drag transonic threshold maneuverability figures like turn rates are not really available for these new planes lift and installed thrusts are factors in maneuverability so wing area and uninstalled thrust can be very rough substitutions for those there is a single official graph concerning the average roll rate for the f-22 comparing it with the f-15 and f-16 it's apparent that the f-22 is trailing behind the f-16 up to a certain angle of attack c-57 being aerodynamically even more advanced than the flanker which in turn is better than the f-15 in the subsonic regime should do quite well the j-20 is allegedly optimized for supersonic performance if a research paper of its chief designer is to be believed so it might fall behind in the subsonic envelope the f-35 is allegedly as good as the f-16 in this subsonic envelope with better nose pointing capability important in dogfights it can enable planes to quickly point towards their enemy for short periods of time even if their turn rate would otherwise not allow them to but it's also not that crucial as planes today aren't expected to get the distances just a mile away where nose pointing ability could trump general turn rates and various other factors like technology found in missiles and helmet mounted sites further makes maneuverability somewhat less significant for those craving some sort of an answer after all this the c-57 is likely the most maneuverable in subsonic flight followed closely by the f-22 j-20 and f-22 might surpass the sukhoi in supersonic performance the f-35 would likely trail behind other planes a bit in subsonic envelope and fall behind a lot in supersonic one much more important for a modern day fighter is range it can enable the plane to perform missions that otherwise it could not or it could reliably use supersonic speeds for long periods of time or stay over the battle area for longer using the disclosed combat radius as a basis ferry range can be estimated for us planes other planes require more general estimates using fuel loads the j20 in particular might have long legs due to its ample size and possibly large fuel volume and its four external fuel tanks the f-35 was never observed with external tanks in practice and the f-22 never carried more than two tanks in practice now range is also subject to payload and flight profile the f-35 being smaller will suffer a bit more range taken when loaded with the same weapons load compared to other planes air-to-air weapons payload can be internal only or can add missiles externally it's clear the f-22 carries most missiles internally when carrying several missiles externally even the f22 would have its radar signatures spike up almost 1 meter squared levels which would basically halve the enemy's radar range the j-20 and su-57 external missile loads are estimated from available imagery the f-22 was never observed being ready for more than four externally carried amraps and the f-35s missile loadout is going to be limited for a few more years until further modifications are added still even here the f22 comes out on top integration of the long range r37m missile for the su-57 is likely not yet done though it is planned likewise the long-range chinese missile is not likely integrated on the j-20 yet u.s planes currently have no similar missile options capabilities-wise the russian missiles are somewhat behind the us or chinese ones especially the short-range r-74msl the us and chinese missiles are roughly speaking of comparable technological levels sensors are among the most important subsystems a fighter jet has usually those are radars missile approach warning sensors various optical sensors and sensors classifying enemy electronic emissions there are also front and foe identifiers which are sometimes confused with actual radars in the wings of the russian su-57 the suhoy however does have more raiders than any other plane in this comparison in addition to the main frontal radar it has two cheek raiders each roughly three to four times smaller some kind of emitter is also visible in the tail stink that might be a raider but it also might be a jammer array still the c-57 has enough raiders for nearly complete situational awareness all planes use active electronically scanned arrays while various other technology factors are hard to quantify two factors could be somewhat estimated size and power of array both of which influence array capability the more the better the diameter of the radom usually helps assess radar array size the j20's big nose may be hiding quite a large array another way of indirect capability measurement is counting the number of transmit and receive modules from photographs the j20 radar was never shown but similar technology is present in a known radar on jf-17 fighter so the module count could be adjusted for radium size planes with lower thrust-to-weight ratio could in theory cause the radar to be designed around a lower input power level if that holds some weight then the f 22 would be on top of that list with the c-57 being a bit behind and the other plane is a bit behind the sukhoi the su-57 would have trouble powering a few of its raiders at once though those side raiders are thus likely to be effective only at short and medium ranges given that russia is putting their first aesa radar in service only now and that module density seems a bit lower it would appear that russian radar attack is somewhat behind that of the us and chinese one and that the chinese radar tech if it is somewhat behind the us one is possibly compensating for that with a larger array optical infrared and ultraviolet sensors are distributed around all the planes the f-35 is kink here ahead of the f-22 with large aperture sensors capable of detecting even far away enemy planes the j20 has similar looking apertures to f-35 ones but of unknown capability radar warning receivers are also present on all planes it was alleged during their active service that the systems on the f-22 and f-35 are more sensitive and precise than electronic signal locators meant for wild weasel f-16s meant for locating enemy sam units russian and chinese capabilities in that regard remain a mystery when it comes to tracking close by threats the f-35 is likely the best of the bunch all planes except the f-22 have a dedicated forward-looking infrared sensor as well something that can find and track targets visually from even longer ranges than the distributed aperture system on the f-35 in certain situations and especially against radar stealthy opponents that might be an advantage defensive measures are integral to survival tf-35 is the only plane here that uses a towed decoy which can lure missiles towards it the c-57 is the only one using a directed infrared countermeasure system which blinds the seeker of infrared missiles with a laser beam if an f-22 gets a missile on its tail it may not have many options for evading it then there are radar jammers modern acer raiders can actually serve both as raiders and jammers the f-35 had that ability from the get-go while the f-22s raider was upgraded to get said ability su-57's radar was also advertised with similar ability but the sukhoi also has dedicated jammer arrays one of which is likely in the large tail sting of the plane and the f-35s towed decoy may have jamming capability there is no info on the j20 but it's likely its reader can also jam and some of the panels to its rear do look as if they might house additional jammer arrays so the f22 is likely not at the top of the pack in the jamming department it's one area that might cost it in a battle if it ever finds itself not supported by other plane types what the f-22 does have and the j-20 does not is an internal gun the sukhoi and f-35a do have one another area useful for short-range combat where the f-22 does not excel is helmet-mounted display all other planes on the list use it it enables the pilot to fire its weapons even if the plane isn't directed straight at the target it provides information to the pilots no matter where the pilot is looking at yet due to a 20 year old design requirements and subsequent cockpit design constraints the f22 to this day has not received a helmet mounted display as a regular feature for its units that shortcoming is somewhat compensated for by the fact the f-22's short-range missile sidewander x-block 2 can lock onto a target after its launch so as long as the raptor's radar can track a target the f-22 could still achieve some off-board shots still it's not an ideal solution especially for short-range combat with lots of maneuvering when it comes to overall information presentation and situational awareness the f-35 likely cannot be beat systems in the f-22 aren't as well integrated to offer complete situational awareness and there is more pallet workload the f-22 might be somewhere in the middle of the bunch when it comes to set capability what the f22 does have going for it is stealth the two most important stealth aspects are infrared and radar stealth when it comes to infrared signature there is simply no contest the rapture is by far the most optimized there its nozzles are physically shielded from the view of infrared sensors and like with most of the other planes some sort of exhaust cooling is in place as well but on top of everything let's remember that the f-22 is the only plane in the bunch with tactically meaningful supercruise ability it may not have to use its afterburners for most of the fight while all other planes will likely use them to achieve good supersonic performance using afterburners increases the thermal signature of a plane by up to three times the f-35 has some advanced exhaust cooling as well and the j20 has some of its tail surfaces positioned to also hide the exhaust from side view but its radar stealth that is make or break territory for most fighters today comparing other planes is hard as figures given officially do not come with context and the russian metric for giving out radar signature data is not the same as the us one the sukhoi's own research papers state a goal of 0.1 square meters as context is missing and that may be a goal that's more than met it could be the 257's radar signature is between two and three orders of magnitude worse than the f-22 what is apparent is that q57 uses less radar absorbing materials than the other planes it seems to be using greater blockers in its inlets which may be okay against short wavelength radars but it's not as good of a solution as a long swiveling intake various details like the irs-t ball near the cockpit also likely provide a spike in radar signature corroborating the idea that the su-57 simply isn't designed to be as stealthy as us planes the j20 certainly goes a lot farther in that regard extensive use of radar absorbing coating is visible various protrusions on the plane are more meticulously designed for countering radar as is the cockpit cover still even the j20 shape when a simulation of radar returns is run on it gives worse signature values than the f22 shown values are approximations of the shape and good radar absorbing materials might yield better values but it's a baseline rough estimate showing that the frontal view on the j20 yields a radar return between 0.01 and 0.1 square meters which is roughly an order of magnitude or 2 worse than what the f-22 and f-35 have simply comparing those figures to u.s air force announced figures back in the day is not advisable there are surely many factors in play for one the f-35 signature was not precisely known back then and since then the u.s claimed that in certain conditions the f-35 can have even slightly better radar signature than the f22 but that's almost certainly for the frontal section alone the shaping of the f-22 means the f-35 can't really compare when looked at from other angles still the f-35 has newer radar absorbing coating technology and that's one area which made great strides in the last 10 to 20 years today even fairly thin layers of such materials can greatly lower the radar return in a way the f-22 is unlucky as its baked in design means it can't profit from those technological advances the way the f-35 or even j-20 could overall the f-22 might very well be the most stealthy of the bunch on average but the f-35 is very close and perhaps even against the j20 the difference in radar signature may not be tactically decisive so overall the f-22 matches or betters its competitors in radar stealth it has significant advantage in infrared stealth it can more easily achieve higher speeds and acceleration enabling it a more favorable position when entering the fight its radar is roughly as good as some of the competition though it falls behind all other planes in other means of detection it's likely the raptor would detect others before those detected in turn and get to position itself favorably against other planes though not significantly so when going against f-35 or j-20 if so it might not get to shoot them down before those would get to fire their missiles the raptor's air-to-air payload is the most lethal one out there when quality and number of missiles are taken into account when defending from attacks it possibly falls a little behind other planes due to less robust radar jamming options it lacks more direct defense measures too the f-35 might survive a few more raider guided missiles fired and the su-57 might survive a few more infrared seeking missiles fired but the raptor is quite maneuverable possibly second best of the planes analyzed which could help it evade some extra missile shots though if it comes to very close combat its lack of helmet-mounted sight would likely relegate it near the bottom of the list its relatively short range is perhaps the biggest downside to the raptor which could limit its tactical options and make it simply not as present on the battlefield and also make it overly reliant on in-flight refueling of course for air-to-ground missions the raptor is a mixed bag its stealth can allow it to do fixed sight airstrikes and survive but it's nearly hopeless in missions where it would have to look for ground targets on its own plus its fairly shallow bombay and limited range would mean it's not going to be doing big bomb runs anyway it's a machine forged for air superiority it's still the best for that overall but its edge is being eroded steadily on one hand all technologies and concepts are baked into it making it hard to upgrade it on the other hand it's out of production and its small fleet and possibly even newer planes on the horizon mean there is little political will to inject money into serious modernization efforts one should not be surprised if by 2030s some of these other planes get more capable variants that meet even the 2030 variant of the raptor in quality and capability the raptor is still the top dog in 2022 but the sun has started to slowly very slowly set on it and remember binkov may talk about hypothetical wars but only real peace can bring us all together you

Channel: Binkov's Battlegrounds

Views: 1,114,130

Keywords: F-22, Raprot, F-35, Lightning, Su-57, Felon, J-20, Wēilóng, Chengdu, Lockeed, Stealth, Supercruise, Helmet mounted display, hmd, Amraam, R-77, Sidewinder, Sidewinder-x, Aim-9x

Id: XSTVGzezj60

Length: 22min 0sec (1320 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 05 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/every_man_a_obama]

The Rafael fanboys🤢

[u/BalrogOfdurin]

The thumbnail showing all those 5th gen jets chasing the raptor (with the F-35 firing a missile) makes me chuckle.

[u/MrSadCord]

Gold

[u/DeusVultBoi_NCDAcc]

Rhodesia Offical guy seems pretty based to me idk