A 36th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron crew chief conducts post flight maintenance on a B-2 Spirit after its arrival Feb.23 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The B-2 is deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Ryan Whitney)
United States Air Force B-2 bombers and F-22 fighters have started training together at Guam.
The F-22 provides the kicking down of the door of stiff IADS (integrated air defense) threats and the B-2 provides the payload. The F-22 is capable of carrying two GBU-32 1000 pound class JDAMs. It will be cleared soon to carry 8 small diameter bombs (SDB). With the internal air-to-ground payload, the F-22 also carries a lot of gun ammo and four air-to air missiles, two AIM-120 AMRAAMs and two AIM-9 Sidewiders. Because of extreme altitude and super-cruise, the F-22 has demonstrated hitting targets with the JDAM as far away as 24 miles. With no air to ground loadout, the F-22 can carry six AMRAAMs and two AIM-9s.
The F-22 takes over the mission of the F-117 as the United States Air Force’s premiere penetrator into high risk IADs. The F-22 “kicks down the door” by killing off heavily defended radar sites and surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems. It also sweeps the skies of any enemy aircraft threats using not only its APG-77 AESA radar, but the exquisite AN/ALR-94 passive detection gear which can detect, classify and target enemy radar emissions. With the AN/ALR-94, the F-22s combat system uses the APG-77 radar sparingly in varioius modes only when an airborne target gets to within certain predetermined distances. The F-117 is considered to be obsolete. It doesn’t have the sensors, air-to-air weapons and performance of the F-22, which is needed to survive modern IADs threats.
The B-2 provides exceptional hitting power. Some years ago, using a new smart bomb rack, a B-2 dropped 80 GBU-38 500 pound class JDAMS to hit 80 different aimpoints all in one pass. The B-2 can also carry eight large bunker busters in the 4500-5000 pound class like the older GBU-37 “GAM” and its replacement, the GBU-28.
Other B-2 weapons loadout options include up to eighty, Mark 62 naval mines, sixteen GBU-31 2000 pound class JDAMs, 16 AGM-158 JASSM cruise missiles to name but a few configurations.
The B-2 is also capable of carrying nuclear bombs: Up to sixteen B-61-7s or B83-0s or eight B61-11s.
The B-2 because of its design is considered to be broadband stealth. This means that its stealth resistance is to a wider variety of radar threats. The F-22 is considered somewhat broadband but its significant speed and altitude options allow it to use a wider variety of tactics. Both are considered “all aspect stealth” aircraft with the F-22 a little less because of its vertical tails.
If Lockheed Martin, the maker of the F-22 doesn’t hear any good news from Washington on funding, it will be forced to close down the F-22 production line at the beginning of March.
Staff Sgt. Terry Vickery (left), Staff Sgt. Tim Sullivan, and Senior Airman Ryan Ott install an F-22 Raptor canopy Feb. 18 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The Raptors are deployed from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, to Guam for three months. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald)
Technorati Tags: B-2, F-22, Stealth, U.S., USAF, Air Force, Guam
183 F22 + 20 B2: if we use such an unheard-of technological advantage wisely, this will be the USAF’s spearhead over the next three decades or so. It’s the ultimate mess-with-us-and-i-will-rub-them-on-your-face deal.
It’s a good thing that the stealth fleet is not large enough to make us cocky/lose our vigilance.
Journalist David Axe sums up the latest myths surrounding F-22 Raptor (< HREF="http://warisboring.com/?p=1723#respond" REL="nofollow">here<>).War games and dissimulated exercises are meant to better horn training and tactics, by the way. That’s what made F-15′s amazing scorecard possible. The results barely constitute enough evidences to suggest F22′s weaknesses, as sensationalists would suggest.