Your Tiffy isn't equipped with Rivet Joint-type sensory capability but Raptor is. If your a/c or its helpers emit, a Raptor flight will sniff you out and cue on you long before you can possibly know that we're there. (The limitations on passive-only attack are discussed, with validated support, in the Rafale threads inter alia.) Raptor also operates several miles above Tiffy, giving the former decisive advantages over the latter. The latest iteration of -120s can home on Tiffy at max range but the radar-guided missile suite that Tiffy carries or will carry cannot home on Raptor except at very short range (consider missile diameter and power, please, vice true stealth attributes of Raptor). You really need to come down from the ether. 0.02
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A further area yet to be resolved is drawing a road map for the introduction of an active, electronically scanned array radar. The availability of an AESA will be a key factor in some export campaigns, including to India, while the RAF is also eager to secure an upgrade path.
Levels of support for an AESA to replace the mechanically scanned Captor differ among the partners. Italy is not particularly keen at present, since the radar would not likely be available until late T3A aircraft, and the country is disinclined to operate two Typhoon standards.
F-22 Design Shows More Than Expected Aviation Week & Space Technology Feb 09 , 2009 , p. 24
The F-22?s newly revealed areas of overperformance include a radar cross section that officials will only characterize as ?better? than what was asked for. Pentagon officials have said privately that the desired signature from certain critical angles was -40 dBsm., the equivalent radar reflection of a steel ?marble.?
Supercruise is at Mach 1.78 rather than Mach 1.5. Accelerationalthough company officials would not say from what speed or at what altitudeis 3.05 sec. faster than the requirement of 54 sec. In nonafterburning, full military power, the Raptor can operate at slightly above 50,000 ft. However, it is known that the F-22 opened its aerial battles at about 65,000 ft. during its first joint exercise in Alaska, apparently using afterburner. There is also a mysterious admission that the range of the Raptor?s Northrop Grumman/Raytheon active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar has a range 5% greater than expected. That means a cushion of an additional 5-6 mi. of detection range against enemy aircraft and missiles.
Ranges of the new lines of AESA radars are classified. But they are estimated at about 90 mi. for the smallest (aimed at the F-16 radar-upgrade market). The F/A-18E/F and F-35 (with radar ranges of 100 mi.) are followed by the F-22 (110-115-mi.). The largest is carried by the upgraded F-15Cs and Es (125 mi.). By comparison, the range for a mechanically scanned, F-15C radar is 56 mi. according to Russian air force intelligence. U.S. aerospace officials agree that an AESA radar ?at least doubles? the range over standard military radars.
When coupled with the electronic techniques generator in an aircraft, the radar can project jamming, false targets and other false information into enemy sensors. Ranges for electronic attack equal the AESA radar plus that of the enemy radar. That could allow electronic attack at ranges of 150 mi. or more. The ability to pick out small targets at a long distance also lets AESA-equipped aircraft find and attack cruise missiles, stealth aircraft and small UAVs.
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