This ultimate stealth fighter is the pride of the U.S. Armed Forces. Aside from flight performance, it has top class acceleration performace and a two-dimensional thrust deflect nozzle which also gives it outstanding maneuverability. It's preemptive strike power, called, first look, first shoot, first kill, is fitting for an aircraft with the name Raptor, The Master Of The Skies.
― Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Description
The F-22 Raptor is one of the best fighters in the Ace Combat series, stat-wise. It is the main aircraft on the cover for most of the series (such as 04, X, Joint Assault and Assault Horizon). F-22 variants (such as the F-22C Raptor II or the FB-22 Concept) have been featured in all Ace Combat games with the exception of Air Combat Arcade, Ace Combat Advance and Ace Combat: Northern Wings. It is a stealth fighter aircraft that was intentionally built to replace the F-15C Eagle. Due to its exceptional maneuverability and speed, the F-22 is considered to be one of the best aircrafts in the world. The F-22 is the flagship plane for almost every Ace Combat game so far, and the F-22A is also the main aircraft of several aces in the Ace Combat series.
Description
The F-22 was first flown as the YF-22 in September 29, 1990 as part of the ATF program along with the YF-23A Black Widow II. After a hard-fought fly off, the F-22 was declared the winner in August 1991. The main production version of the F-22 Raptor (also known as the Lightning II, Rapier and SuperStar until April 9, 1997) first flew on September 7, 1997. This version entered service in December 2005. Its primary role is as an Air Superiority fighter, similar in effect to the F-15C Eagle that it was slated to replace. At one point it was to have a carrier based variant similar to the swept-wing F-14 Tomcat fortheaircraftcarrierGerald R. Ford as seen in some pictures and articles. The F-22A was also known as the F/A-22 for a short time due to the fact that the Raptor has a secondary ground-attack role. However, the name changed back to F-22A on September 12, 2005. One of the best traits of the F-22A Raptor is its advanced AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar, which can detect enemy aircraft and missile launches as well as jam incoming hostile missiles; with its 2300 transmitters it is stronger than any other radar. Its standard supercruise speed is Mach 1.5, or around 1225 miles per hour, but it has been able to reach a top cruising speed of Mach 1.8. Its true top speed is still classified. It also has superb agility due to its high thrust-to-weight ratio, high angle of attack, low wing loading, advanced "fly-by-wire" control (the system enabling control over light combat aircraft), and thrust vectoring nozzles like F-15S/MTD. The missiles on the aircraft are stored in internal weapon bays: two under the wing root that can store two AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles each and one under the fuselage that can store six AIM-120C/D AMRAAMs or a variety of air to ground munitions, such as members of the JDAM family, like the GBU-38 500 lb JDAM, or the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb.
Armament and Aces/Squadrons
- Gun: 1x internal 20mm Martin Marietta M61A2 Lightweight Vulcan Cannon
- MSSL: AIM-9M Sidewinder
- HACM: AIM-9X Sidewinder (ACJA)
- LGWM: Rafael Python V (ACJA)
- HVWM: AIM-132 ASRAAM (ACJA)
Stats
- Speed: 83
- Mobility: 88
- Stability: 82
- Defense: 66
- Air-to-Air: 96
- Air-to-Ground: 59
Gallery
Two Raptors engaged in combat over Gracemeria, the aircraft in the foreground having its ventral weapons bay open about to fire one of its six AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles.
F-22 Raptors in the colors of the Razgriz Air Command Squadron.
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The IDOLMASTER form of the F-22, found in Ace Combat 6.
A pair of F-22As from the 207th Tactical Fighter Squadron.
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Garuda 1, Talisman, flying an F-22A over Selumna Peaks.
Two F-22As from the Mobius Squadron
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Gryphus One
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Mobius One
An F-22 after destroying a Su-33 Flanker-D.
An F-22 and a Su-33 passing each other.
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An Aurelian Air Force F-22.
F-22A Raptor.
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Warwolf F-22s before take off.
F-22A in Ace Combat: Assault Horizion with the monochrome version of iDOLMSTER's Haruka Amami.
F-22A in Ace Combat: Assault Horizion with the iDOLM@STER character Haruka Amami.
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An F-22 dodging debris from an enemy aircraft.
'Haruka Amami' F-22 Fly by Dubai.
F-22A "Flash"
F-22A "Warwolf"
Mobius One's F22
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An F-22 in Ace Combat Joint Assault
Trivia
- The United States Air Force plans to have 187 Raptors in their inventory by 2012. No other real world Air Force flies the Raptor.
- The F-22A, EF-2000, and F-16 variants share the highest record of twelve appearances in Ace Combat games.
- The fifth color for the F-22 in Ace Combat: Joint Assault is the same as the last two Orgoi aircraft seen in the same game. It was likely that the Golden Axe Plan Private Army intended to field the F-22A for use as a carrier fighter on board the Orgoi, but for some reason cancelled the plan.
- The image with the caption: 'An F-22 dodging debris from an enemy aircraft' shows a tailcode of TY rather than FF. TY is the tailcode of Tyndall Air Force Base, which was home to the first operational F-22 fighter squadron, the 43d Fighter Squadron, tasked with training pilots on flying the F-22. FF indicates the 1st Fighter Wing, the Fighting First, from which the tall number is derived, is the first operational wing of F-22s consisting of 40 frontline F-22s.
- While the PAK-FA is on Assault Horizon as the best Multirole aircraft, the F-22 is the best in the category fighter. The F-22 is also the only American fighter capable of Kulbit turns and Pugachev Cobras aside from Russian planes.
- In Assault Horizon the PAK FAs speed stat is slightly higher than the F-22s, but in actual gameplay the F-22 reaches 2855 km/h and the PAK-FA 2831 km/h.
- The F-22A is the most recurring aircraft on Ace Combat cover art, and is the choice aircraft of playable characters Scarface One, Mobius One, Gryphus One, Antares One, and William Bishop.