After surpassing the two-decade mark in service, the F-22 Raptor stealth fighters of the United States Air Force (USAF) reach a new and important milestone by exceeding 500,000 flight hours. This has been achieved amid plans outlined by the force itself to begin the retirement of the first Block 20 aircraft, which will reduce the fleet of the world’s first fifth-generation stealth fighter from a total of 186 to a remaining 153. .
Lockheed Martin made statements regarding this milestone: “As we celebrate 500,000 flight hours, we look toward the continued evolution of not only the F-22 but air combat as a whole (…) The ongoing modernization efforts and strategic upgrades being made to the F-22 today will further improve further its capabilities, while enabling the next generation of air dominance.”
The aforementioned retirement plan finds its main argument in the large costs that would be involved in carrying out the updating tasks of these 33 aircraft, which currently have a role limited to pilot training; Among other issues, this is mainly due to the fact that Block 20 has limited capabilities for air-ground operations. It is worth mentioning that the US Congress has attempted to block the progress of this Air Force proposal, as well as the one that seeks the green light to follow a similar path with the F-15E, denoting this in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY23 and in the guidelines for FY25.
However, from the statements of the aforementioned company, it can be elucidated that the F-22 Raptor program is still far from discontinued in terms of updates. In specific terms regarding future fleet improvements, it is useful to refer to General Mark Kelly’s presentation for the fiscal year 23 budget request, which included an artist’s illustration of an F-22 fighter that integrated new fuel tanks with stealth features, a new InfraRed Search and Track (IRST) system similar to that of the F-35 and a new missile of which details are not yet known, among other novelties.
This is important as the close link between the aforementioned developments and the future sixth-generation fighter, a program known as Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD), is known. As an illustrative example, take the case of the participation of F-22 aircraft in the testing of the future helmet of the aforementioned platform, which is called Next Generation Fixed Wing Helmet (NGFWH) by the US Air Force. A total of five of these stealth fighters participated in these tests, all of them belonging to the 301st Fighter Squadron, whose headquarters are Eglin Air Base.
*Images used for illustrative purposes
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