Aircraft

The F-22 Raptor shows off its agility in glorious 4K

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The most dominant air-to-air fighter ever manufactured, and still a beautiful thing in flight
F-22 Demo Team
The most dominant air-to-air fighter ever manufactured, and still a beautiful thing in flight
F-22 Demo Team
The F-22 can supercruise over the speed of sound without afterburners
F-22 Demo Team
Its stealth capabilities gave it the radar signature of a bumblebee, but its weapons systems gave it a rather more impressive sting
F-22 Demo Team
70,000 pounds of vectored thrust make the F-22 incredibly agile in the air
F-22 Demo Team
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The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an extraordinary aircraft, the result of a project that began all the way back in 1981, five years before Top Gun. It entered military service in 2007, and delivered its final aircraft in 2012.

At around US$150 million a pop, the F-22 offered a killer combination of smart weapons systems, supersonic top speeds up to and over Mach 2, radar-dodging stealth capabilities, ultra-lightweight titanium alloy construction and exceptional situational awareness for its pilots thanks to clever sensor fusion technology. And that's not to mention its insane agility; its 70,000-odd pounds of thrust could be vectored incredibly quickly to pull supernaturally tight maneuvers none of its rivals could touch.

It was a next-level machine for sure; in simulated air-to-air combat exercises it absolutely dominated. During one exercise over Alaska in 2006, a "blue" force including 12 Raptors smashed a "red" force without them, downing 241 planes while losing only two. Neither of those two was an F-22, and the 12 Raptors recorded 108 kills just by themselves. The French reckon they've outmaneuvered the odd F-22 in combat exercises, but it remains the most fearsome dogfighter ever developed.

Its stealth capabilities gave it the radar signature of a bumblebee, but its weapons systems gave it a rather more impressive sting
F-22 Demo Team

Of course, by the time it was ready for active duty, the face of war had changed substantially. The greatest air superiority fighter in history found itself flying about with precious little over which to assert its superiority. In terms of actual combat, it's intercepted the odd Russian bomber, dropped a few bombs on Syria and blew up some opium in Afghanistan – and otherwise it's been a terrific deterrent; just parking a few F-22s in a particular area makes any air operation start to look extremely expensive to enemies.

So while it's never had – and indeed may never get – the chance to dominate a dogfight the way it was designed to, the F-22 remains in service. The original US Air Force order of 750 aircraft was eventually cut back to just 187, and those will likely endure through 2030 with a few upgrades applied.

But watching these things in action is still an elemental experience, which brings us to today's subject, which is essentially just a super cool video of F-22 Raptors doing F-22 Raptor things in beautiful 4K, with slow-mo and 360-degree shots mixed in to add a little extra drop to your jaw.

This is the F-22 Raptor Demonstration team at work. Stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia, the team has flown more than 250 demonstrations worldwide. Jump into the video and enjoy – and if you've got VR Goggles, there's a 360degree VR version to enjoy as well.

Source: F-22 Demo Team

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16 comments
Stephen Glynn
Thought I was going to see the super agility of the F22 all I got was some slow motion footage that shows nothing that the Raptor can do because its all slow motion.
alexD
well...that was quit un-epic video made to impress teenage girls...
Steve7734
same Loz. That was so annoying, all the way through I was like for god sake show me what it can do.
anthony88
Er...bit slow, innit?
Tommo
I'm with all the other comments on here - slo-mo is OK for the odd shot but having a whole video of such an amazing aircraft is a real shame...
pmshah
I have seen far better manoeuvres on a Avro Canada designed and built plane, Arrow, more than 50 years ago.
Dirk Scott
Here’s the video you wanted folks. Faster, more agile, tougher, but yesterday’s tech when it comes to war winning. https://youtu.be/DBVafIdbsqk
minivini
That’s nice footage, but having seen the F-22 and F-35 in person at the MCAS Beaufort air show, this really doesn’t show much. The capabilities of these aircraft are truly phenomenal - bordering on impossible. The way an F-22 can literally hurl itself perpendicular to its own trajectory is a thing of beauty. It takes a wide angle view to understand what that actually looks like, and this footage seemed more like it was shot as an advertisement.
buzzclick
As much as I abhor war, the little boy in me has no resistance when it comes to the many types of fighter aircraft. Chance to check out some details of this formidable machine...then I put on my Fast Forward glasses to check out the action. lol Will a dogfight between an F-22 and an Su-57 ever happen? That would be a battle of the Titans.
Troublesh00ter
Honestly, I've seen amateur video of the F-22 which shows off its abilities better. This was a lot more sizzle than it was steak.