October 2,
2008: A recent hot media story featured
a "secret simulation exercise" alleged to show that the F-35 was
inferior to the Russian Su-27 (as used by the Chinese). That turned out to be a
matter of misinterpretation, but there was another analysis that showed the
F-22 being smoked by the Su-27. Fortunately, all the particulars for this one were
promptly released, thus deflating any attempts at headline grabbing.
That
scenario postulated that three regiments of Chinese Su-27s (72 aircraft) went
up against six F-22s (hastily flown to Taiwan to stem a hypothetical Chinese
onslaught.) Even though the Su-27s were carrying about 900 air-to-air missiles
(and the F-22s only 48), the American fighters manage to survive the air
battle, and take down over twenty Su-27s. But some of the Su-27s get past them
and go after the aerial tankers. That's critical because the F-22s burn most of
their fuel fighting off the Su-27s, and are lost at sea without the tankers.
It's all
about fuel management. As a rule of thumb, a fighter can take its total flying
range and divide it into thirds: one third for going out ("operating
radius"), one third for coming back and one third for combat. A typical modern
fighter can cruise at 900 kilometers per hour. The F-22 can cruise faster than
that, and has a theoretical flying time of three hours. However,
high-performance fighters obtain their speed by having an engine that can
increase its fuel consumption enormously for short periods. For example, at
cruise speed, fighters burns .5-.6 percent of its fuel per minute. By kicking
in the afterburner, cruise speed can be more than tripled, and fuel consumption
increased more than twenty times. At full "war power" an F 22 can
burn 30 percent of its fuel in a few minutes. It can also escape from
unfavorable situations using a sudden increase in speed. A less experienced
pilot will abuse the high performance of his aircraft to get him out of one
tight situation after another. Once a fighter reaches BINGO fuel (just enough
to get home), combat must cease. Otherwise the aircraft will likely run out of
fuel before reaching its base, and be just as useless as if shot down by the
enemy. It's a common tactic to try and force the other guy into more high fuel
consumption maneuvers. Eventually he will run low on fuel and try to break
away. At this point he becomes desperate and vulnerable.
The F-22
uses its speed advantages to avoid getting hit, and to get into a position to
knock down opponents. The fuel is like ammo, when it's gone, you are in
trouble. And if your aerial tankers are not there, you either find a place to
land, or bail out.
