Need for FA-22 Raptors challenged

Jace Radke

Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

Nellis Air Force Base's 64th Squadron serves as the "bad guys" in training exercises for U.S. and foreign aircraft during training over the Nevada Desert.

Piloting their F-16C Fighting Falcons, the squadron, known as "the aggressors," has held its own flying against just about every aircraft that has been thrown at them -- with the exception of the FA-22 Raptor.

"Going against the FA-22 gets to be a pretty eye-watering experience," said Aggressor Commander Lt. Col. Paul Huffman. "We get paid to go up against other pilots and aircraft, so we're used to getting beat up, but the FA-22 brings the beating to a whole different level.

"Against the FA-22 we're dying wholesale."

In the coming months, Huffman and Las Vegas residents will be seeing more and more of the Air Force's latest weapon system as it booms out of Nellis for increased tactics and training runs over the Nevada Test and Training Range.

While testing of the FA-22 continues the debate also continues as to whether the $100 million fighter jets are needed.

Air Force officials are saying the need for the FA-22, which would replace the F-15C first fielded in 1979, is clear after a February combat exercise in India that saw F-15s losing to Indian Sukhoi and Mirage fighters.

"We may not be as far ahead of the world as we thought we were," said Gen. Hal Hornburg, chief of Air Combat Command, following the exercises.

The Air Force wants to purchase about 300 FA-22 Raptors, which feature stealth capabilities, the ability to travel at supersonic speeds without using fuel-guzzling afterburners and the ability to attack from greater distances and at higher altitudes.

Critics of the FA-22 say that it isn't needed, pointing out the lack of enemy fighter aircraft for F-15s to engage during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich, who is a professor of international relations at Boston University, says that the FA-22 isn't necessary.

"It's certainly imperative that the United States be able to ensure air superiority in a theater, but we can do that now, and I see no likely adversary to challenge us," Bacevich said. "We need a bigger Army and more robust special operations, and I'd like to see more resources put toward those requirements."

Congressman Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a former combat pilot and veteran of the Veitnam and Persian Gulf Wars, has supported the Raptor, saying that the Air Force needs the fighter to keep its edge over other countries.

"The FA-22 has such a small radar signature compared to an F-15, which is like flying a tennis court as far as enemy radar is concerned," Gibbons said.

Gibbons said that while fighters may not have been used as much in Afghanistan and Iraq, "we needed every bit of suppression we could get in Kosovo."

Maj. Alex Grynkewich, an F-16 pilot who serves as chief of the FA-22 evaluation process at Nellis, is one of seven pilots flying the Raptor at Nellis. New surface-to-air missile systems such as the Russian-made SA 20 can strike targets up to 250 miles away, leaving no question in Grynkewich's mind which aircraft he wants to fly into combat with.

"I wouldn't want to fly an F-16 into these newer generation surface-to-air missiles with my pink butt on the line," said Grynkewich, who added that such missile systems are relatively cheap and sold around the world. "The FA-22 can go in and kick the door down by taking out the surface-to-air threats and clearing the way for B-2 and F-117 bombers to take out high value targets."

Grynkewich, and other members of Nellis' 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron are running the Raptors through the sensor-laden, 2.9 million-acre test range to gauge the fighter's capabilities so they can literally write the book on how future pilots should fly it.

By 2008, 17 Raptors are expected to be stationed at Nellis, and the base's weapon school will begin operating the equivalent of Ph.D-level instructor training on the fighter.

Nellis is now assigned eight Raptors, but four are at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

"The Raptor allows us to fly at speeds and altitudes no one else can fly, allowing a pilot to concentrate on tactics and figure out which way to flow (move) to kill the bad guys," Grynkewich said of the Raptor, which can cruise without afterburners at Mach 1.5 and fly at altitudes well over 50,000 feet.

The F-117 and B-2 are limited to flying at night because they don't have the ability to defend themselves from attacks, but the FA-22 can take out those threats allowing for the stealth bombers to fly missions in the daytime, Air Force officials said.

In mock combat engagements the Raptors have exceeded expectations against the aggressor squadron, Grynkewich said.

"We've been flying two FA-22s against six F-16s and we've absolutely dominated every time," Grynkewich said. "Within 3 1/2 minutes we kill the F-16s. Most of the time they don't even know we're there. It's like boxing a blind man."

Grynkewich said that four F-16s are usually enough to win an engagement against six enemy aircraft, but the FA-22 drops that ratio to two planes against six.

Planes like the French-built Mirage and the Russian-built Sukhoi 30, flown by India, compare favorably to the F-15C, Grynkewich said.

"There are more and more countries out there who have aircraft with capabilities on par with the F-15 and F-16," Grynkewich said. "The training is better in these countries than it used to be.

"I think the FA-22 pushes us back out into that air dominance role, and gives us something that can also be effective against ground targets."

The light and dark gray camouflage of the one-seat Raptor looks as though it was designed to blend in with a foggy day in San Francisco, but the smooth body is designed to foil radar detection. All of the plane's weaponry, including a 20mm Gatling gun, two Aim-9 Sidewinder missiles, six air-to-air missiles and two satellite-guided bombs, are concealed within the body of the craft until fired, further cutting its radar-detectable shadow.

Pilots at Nellis compare flying a Raptor to playing a videogame. In an F-16 or F-15 a pilot has to read as many as three 4-by-4 inch computer screens while flying in order to track enemies, targets and friendly aircraft. In an Raptor those functions are combined on one 8-by-8 inch screen.

"It helps you to be able to make faster decisions because everything is there in front of you," Grynkewich said. You don't have to look from screen to screen while adding everything up in your head."