Raptor Replaces Eagle As Dominant Air Superiority Fighter

December 1st, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

As a kid growing up in the military there was nothing more fun than hanging out on a Saturday afternoon at Eglin AFB watching F-15 Eagles doing maneuvers. Back then, the F-15 was the king of the skies, how times do change. Today, the F-15 is considered outdated an ancient and it's role as master of the skies has been replaced by the new breed F-22 Raptor. The Raptor is one kick ass fighter jet, boasting two Pratt & Whitney F-119-100 engines that can produce 35,000 pounds of thrust each and push the F-22 Raptor to a cruising speed of Mach 1.72. Compare that to the 23,000 pound thrust class engines powering the F-15 and F-16 fighters. The Raptor is the most advanced fighter ever built and when combined with it's stealth technology, thrust vectoring system and superior avionics it makes for one unfair fight. Kind of makes me want to go out in the yard and run around with my arms spread out pretending to be Clint Eastwood flying FireFox. Here's some photos from F22Fighter.com and a video piece Discovery did on Future Weapons.