AFA: The F-22 Is Battle Ready

Posted on: Apr. 3rd, 2006 || Source: afa.org | E-mail Article | Print Article

On Jan. 21, with little fanfare, two F-22s armed with live missiles took off from Langley AFB, Va., and streaked skyward. The Raptor sortie was undertaken as part of Operation Noble Eagle, the years-long Air Force campaign to defend US airspace. It was the first operational combat mission of America’s newest and hottest fighter aircraft.

The four-hour sortie marked both the end of a tumultuous acquisition process and the start of what is expected to be a 30-year career. If things go as planned, pilots not yet born will be flying and fighting in the Raptor decades hence.

The stealthy F-22, in development since the mid-1980s, has been declared battle ready. By that, the Air Force means it is able to swiftly defeat any aerial or surface-based air threat in the world today or projected to exist for a long time to come.

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