The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: rangerrebew on April 07, 2021, 02:03:01 pm
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Why the Navy never put the F-22 on aircraft carriers
Alex Hollings | April 5, 2021
America’s F-22 Raptor is widely touted as the most capable air superiority fighter on the planet, thanks to a combination of stealth, speed, and maneuverability. It makes sense, then, that Congress pressed the U.S. Navy to consider fielding a slightly different iteration of the Raptor for duty aboard its Nimitz-class supercarriers back in the early ’90s.
In order to make the F-22 suitable for carrier duty, Lockheed Martin would have had to incorporate a number of significant changes to the F-22’s design. Alongside the usual changes one can expect out of a carrier-capable aircraft (things like a strengthened fuselage and added tail hook), a Navy variant of the F-22 would have needed to incorporate a variable sweep-wing design similar to that employed by the Navy’s existing F-14 Tomcats. This addition, perhaps more than any of the others, would have been a real challenge for engineers to contend with. Sweep wings were expensive to maintain to begin with, but incorporating a sweep-wing design into a stealth aircraft may have been nearly impossible without sacrificing some degree of low observability.
Get the full story on why the Navy never managed to field an F-22 “Sea Raptor†in the video below:
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/why-the-navy-never-put-the-f-22-on-aircraft-carriers/
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The article doesn't explain this statement:
... a Navy variant of the F-22 would have needed to incorporate a variable sweep-wing design similar to that employed by the Navy’s existing F-14 Tomcats.
It may be due to the F-22's weight and the runway length needed to take off.
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It may be due to the F-22's weight and the runway length needed to take off.
My guess would be the weight is too much for constant recoveries and the air frame would be damaged regularly. tri22
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My guess would be the weight is too much for constant recoveries and the air frame would be damaged regularly. tri22
The article mentioned that adaptation for carrier landings would be necessary, much as was done when the YF-17 was adapted to become the F-18. OTOH, the weight of the F-22 is similar to the weight of the F-14, which swung its wings out for extra lift during take-off.