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Nice to see Pravda get something right for a change.
F-22 is really an uberflieger, a pinnacle of dealing against quantity by quality when it comes down to planes.
I was wondering how the high power radar fits in a stealth plane; yes, it could be shut down, but anyway?
The AESA radar in the F-22 has no moving parts like most previous radar sets (hence the "ES" part of AESA), and the actual planar array of the radar is tilted backwards in the nose at about 25 degrees to deflect incoming signals up and away from the source. It's not completely stealthy, of course, but it's close.
And the F-15 has a more powerful AESA.
But let's be realistic. A single F-22 with no other support WILL NOT maintain a 30:1 kill ratio against 3rd or 4th gen aircraft. But then again, nobody has said that either.
Rather one must understand that the F-22 is a force multiplier extraordinaire. The F-22 is NOT the primary killer during an engagement. Rather, the F-22 is a mini-AWACS that allows it net-centric capabilities to couple with its airframe/kinematic/weapons loads to direct the order of battle.
In a prime engagement of an A-to-A battle the F-22 introduces electronic attack spoiling enemy force C3I, then destroys/decoys the enemy leading/control elements, eliminates forward forces, and then directs other air assets in target acquisition. All this is done under stealth.
Modern air battles are not kinematics, missiles and cannon. Those days are gone, unless you are still a GCI centric airforce.
Yes, I know that the radar antenna of the F-22 is inclined down, but its the kilowatts of radiated energy from the antenna that undo the stealth.
FurthermoreWith a flight of F-22's, only ONE a/c in the flight needs to be radiating, and that a/c could easily be 20 or 30 miles away from the other a/c in it's flight; with the F-22's netcentric abilities, it INSTANTLY relays it's targeting information to the other 3 a/c in it's flight WHICH ARE NOT RADIATING. So, for all intents and purposes, you've got one F-22 acting (as Matt said) as a mini AWACS (the "hunter"), and the other three a/c in the flight (which could be much closer to the target) acting as the "killers". The enemy flight wouldn't even know there are more F-22's in the neighborhood (and much closer) until the terminal homing phase radar of the AIM-120D's trigger their RWR's, by which time it's too late.