The Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor is the best fighter jet in the world. It’s faster, longer-legged, more maneuverable and packs better sensors than anything else flying. But there’s one inexcusable gap in its capabilities. Unlike even older fighters, the Raptor can only receive data from external sources; it can’t send. Raptor pilots have to get on the radio and tell others what they see on their radars. This at a time when rapidly sharing information between planes, ships and ground forces is the arguably the key to U.S. military power.
I asked the Raptor jockeys at Virginia’s Langley Air Force Base about this last year and they shifted uncomfortably in their seats while feeding me some line about how voice comms work just fine. Then they quiety stressed that fixes were being planned. Now those fixes are finally firming up, according to Aerospace Daily & Defense Report:
The F-22 Raptor’s “embarrassing success” has created a need for rapid modification of the fighter, says Air Force Gen. Ronald Keys, chief of Air Combat Command. ACC wants a stealthy “tactical target network” data link that can quickly pass key parameters on enemy targets without giving away its position. In initial exercises, the F-22 “was much better at [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and absorbing signals than we had anticipated,” Keys says.
Keys went on to say that fixes were planned for the 2008–2013 period, by which time all 180 Raptors should be in squadron service at Langley and in Alaska and New Mexico. The general didn’t exactly specify which datalink would be fitted, but recent Air Force experiments, as reported in Defense News last summer, might offer a clue:
The proposed Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNT) proved its mettle during a recent two-week exercise in Nevada, allowing troops and military platforms to swap information with Internet-like speed and ease. F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets took in information about proposed targets, gathered sensor data, and sent it to ground stations to be fused with other data for more precise targeting, Boeing Advanced Systems President George Muellner said May 11. And its all machine-to-machine, Muellner said.
– David Axe, cross-posted at Ares and War Is Boring
UPDATE 01/29/07 2:44 PM: “The stealthy Raptor fighter and intelligence-gathering aircraft is ready for war, but probably not the war we’ve got, Air Combat Command’s chief, Gen. Ronald E. Keys, tells Aviation Week.”
Essential electronic surveillance systems may be too sensitive–overwhelmed by the density of U.S. and allied emitters–to be useful in the electronically polluted environment of Baghdad, the main focus of the new U.S. military surge.
“If war breaks out, I’m sending the F-22,” Keys said last week. But not for operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. “I didn’t buy the F-22 for Iraq. We’re looking for what can sop up intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance [ISR] in Iraq and Afghanistan. Is the investment [of sending the F-22] worth it? Is it a good idea or just an attractive idea? Will it complicate the air component commander’s problems for no gain?”
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Is this to all fighters or just non-Raptors? I’m curious because I recall an article that claimed “nearly telepathic communication” between F-22 pilots due to their pooled sensor/targeting data.
yeah this dosnt seem correct, i too have read articles discribing the alomost non existant radio traffic between raptors on exercise. theres something not quite adding up here, be interesting to hear more on this matter…..
That “nearly telepathic” system is actually the intraflight data link (IFDL), which is basically an onboard wideband data modem that allows F-22 pilots to exchange data with their wingman. The IFDL is a transmission with a low-probability of intercept, so the hope is that the emission doesn’t give away the F-22′s position.
But the IFDL doesn’t allow the F-22 to communicate with any other aircraft in the sky, so it doesn’t help anyone outside the fighter-jock circle.
That’s why they’re thinking about installing the Tactical Targeting Network Technology on the aircraft.
Alternatively, perhaps, the air force is also hooking the F-22′s IFDL into the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, which is a payload being installed on a Gulfstream jet that can act as a gateway to other airborne communications networks, such as Link 16 (air force) and Link 11 (navy). It could even allow the F-22 to receive text messages from a guy on the ground with a regular cellular phone.
Hope that helps.
What AvBizWiz says below is absolutely correct.
It sounds to me like the author of this particular article is trying desperately to justify the cost of his $1,800 per yr “Aerospace Daily & Defense Report” subscription by posting information without adequate background context.
Please also bear in mind that the Raptor is a STEALTH aircraft and any emissions from it could concievably give away it’s position – therefore is it perfectly reasonable that the Raptor is weak in the area of sharing information on the battlefield.
The real news here is that a “fix” that is effective on a stealth aircraft in a battle enviroment is coming and that is a very positive thing, not fodder from which to write a scathing report on the F-22.
Hell. Come on now. With potential changing of the guard in the White House and the recent elected official changes on Capital Hill, this is where the Defense Contractors (BIG TIME BUCKS) pull the almighty trump card. Add ons. No budgetary cuts can be allowed to hinder the “world’s most advanced jet fighter.” Not with National Security at risk.