F-22 Raptor shot down

[A.Rahman]

Not strictly anything to do with this forum maybe, but an interesting piece. Although seems it has more to do with the inexperience of the F-22 pilots against highly experienced aggressor squadron F-16 pilots. But then again 144 to 0 kill ratio against F-15 and F/A-18 doesn't seem too bad.


First F-22 Raptor "Shot Down"
By David Axe July 10, 2007 | 9:32:22 AMCategories: Planes, Copters, Blimps,
Raptor Watch
F-22 Raptors are supposed to be the baddest fighter jets ever flown -- and
pretty much unbeatable by anything else in the sky. During their first major
exercise in Alaska last year, F-22s from the 27th Fighter Squadron shot down
144 "enemy" F-15s and F/A-18s in mock dogfights. Still flush from that
victory, the 27th headed to Okinawa in February and its sister 94th Fighter
Squadron simultaneously deployed to Nellis Air force Base, Nevada, for the
new stealth jets' first Red Flag exercise. While the 27th was sweeping the
skies clear of Air Force F-15s and 1960s-era Japanese F-4s, the 94th ran
headlong into the F-16s of the 64th Aggressor Squadron and suffered its
first simulated shoot-down. Somehow the news escaped me, but Airforces
Monthly has all the dirty details in its July issue:

The 57th Adversary Tactics Group undertook some interesting tactics not
contained in the overall [scripted] intelligence scenario. These involved
surprise threats, generally Red Air [enemy] fighters, entering the air
battle unexpectedly. White Force [exercise control] staff would confirm that
the threat was Red and Blue Air [the "good guys"] had to react. The tactic
worked. An F-16C pilot assigned to the 64th Aggressor Squadron gained the
first-ever F-22 kill in Red Flag. [94th commander] Lt. Col. Dirk Smith told
AFM: "At least half of the 94th FS crews had less than 50 hours in the F-22
and no matter how magical the F-22, any pilot can make a mistake. The beauty
of Red Flag is that we were able to go out and practice our tactics in a
challenging scenario, make a mistake, learn a lesson, and be that much
better prepared for actual combat."

I totally agree: failure is the best way to improve. And if losing one
simulated dogfight against other Americans flying F-16s was such a profound
experience for our Raptor jockies, imagine what they might take away from a
no-holds-barred match with experienced foreign pilots flying a genuinely
dissimilar aircraft, say Indian aces in Su-30s or veteran Russian pilots in
Su-27s -- or even top British aviators in the Royal Air Force's new
Typhoons. So far the Air Force has kept its Raptors on a short leash,
letting them play in only the most controlled circumstances. Maybe it's time
to cut them loose for some real education. Just think how prepared they'll
be after 50 mock shoot-downs.


http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/07/first-f-22-rapt.html

 

[SBD-3]

ya i heard that too but I think F-16 was also hit by F-22 missile and destroyed bu still its clear that FA-22 is not something immune to other fighters

 

[Hellfire]

reminds me of serbs shooting down F-117 Nighthawk, a shocker for USAF in Serb conflict ....... that too with a SA-6!!!

 

[gambit]

reminds me of serbs shooting down F-117 Nighthawk, a shocker for USAF in Serb conflict ....... that too with a SA-6!!!

Here is the real shocker...

NATO flew about 21000 sorties over Yugoslavia, of those were about 5000 Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD). So why only two aircrafts, one F-16 and one F-117, shot down? Two out of 21000 is not a combat record to boast about. There were also about 60 B-2 sorties flown from Whiteman AFB from the US. If whatever it was that the Serbs cooked up worked so well against the F-117, then why not even one B-2 was shot down? Try to exercise some critical thinking next time.