Aviation Now,
Barring a last-minute surprise in the F/A-22 Raptor's current phase of testing, the U.S. Air Force fighter will be ready for fielding next month as planned, according to a program representative.
The Lockheed Martin-built F/A-22 is almost done with its follow-on operational test and evaluation (FOT&E), which began in late August (DAILY, Aug. 30) and has just one missile shot remaining, said Air Combat Command's Col. Jimmy Clark, who is involved in setting requirements for the stealthy jet. Four AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) and 20 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) have already been used during FOT&E, which is supposed to help the Raptor achieve its initial operational capability (IOC) in December (DAILY, Sept. 6).
Clark, who spoke Nov. 18 at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement's fighter jet conference, said the F/A-22 has been exceeding requirements for such things as combat radius and supercruise. Although the F/A-22 was slated to be capable of dropping JDAMs only at subsonic speeds at its initial fielding, it will end up also having a “limited envelope” supersonic JDAM capability, or about Mach 1.5 at 40,000 feet, when it is IOC'd.
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