Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor: Facts, Specs and Why It's Rare

The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine stealth fighter built for one job: control of the air. It can supercruise, holding speeds above Mach 1.5 without afterburner, climb to around 10 miles, and carry its weapons inside the fuselage so that its radar echo stays small. Lockheed Martin says the 195 jets it built formed the world's only operational fifth-generation stealth fighter fleet when the last was delivered in 2012.

The first production-standard F-22, Raptor 4001, took off from Marietta, Georgia, on September 7, 1997, with chief test pilot Paul Metz at the controls, and landed 58 minutes later. The YF-22 prototype that preceded it had flown in 1990, in a fly-off against the YF-23, and the Lockheed, Boeing and General Dynamics team won the Advanced Tactical Fighter contest in 1991.

Two Pratt & Whitney F119 engines power it. The Air Force declared the Raptor operational in 2005, and it is flown exclusively by the US Air Force.

Quick facts

Why the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor matters

The Raptor set the pattern for the fifth generation: stealth, sensor fusion that merges radar and other data into one picture for the pilot, supercruise and agility, all in one airframe. The Air Force asked for a replacement for the F-15 in 1981, when that fighter was only seven years old, and the program took nearly 44,000 hours of wind-tunnel testing and 3,496 development flights before the type was ready. Lockheed Martin won the 2006 Collier Trophy for it.

It is also famously scarce. Production ended with the 195th aircraft on May 2, 2012, after 15 years of deliveries, and no other country flies it. By Lockheed Martin's count the fleet has since passed 500,000 flight hours, and a sustainment contract running from 2028 to 2037 is meant to keep it flying, with new sensors and connectivity, well into the 2030s.

Spotting one is a matter of shape: a clean belly with nothing hanging under the wings is the tell-tale of a stealth design, because a fifth-generation fighter carries its weapons inside. It shares that signature with the F-117 Nighthawk, the airplane that proved stealth could work, and the ideas behind both are explained in how stealth works. For how it compares with the fastest jets ever built, see the fastest planes ever flown.

Notable facts

• Supercruise means the Raptor can fly faster than Mach 1.5 for extended periods without afterburner, a capability Lockheed Martin calls unprecedented.
• The first flight on September 7, 1997, was the start of 3,496 test flights and 7,616 flying hours in the development phase alone.
• Lockheed Martin delivered the last of 195 F-22s on May 2, 2012, closing the line after 15 years.
• A large share of the Raptor's maintenance goes to preserving its stealth coatings, which have to be restored whenever the jet is opened up for routine work.
• Its two F119 engines were designed for flight-line maintenance with just six common tools of the kind sold in hardware stores.

In Planeology

In the app, each lesson you pass parks an aircraft in your Hangar. The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is Bay 47 of 56. Earn it by passing Fighter Generations, in the Military Aviation lesson group.