【Military Subplane】Author: Lu Zhi
Many domestic military fans believe that the F22 fighter is a fighter that is about to be eliminated because of its outdated design, limited upgrade potential, and the production line has been closed. In fact, the United States has been sparing no effort to upgrade the F22 fighter, because no matter how you look at it, the F22 fighter cannot be described as backward in the current situation, and it is still one of the most powerful air superiority fighters in the world today. Recently, a blurry photo of the F22 appeared to indicate that the United States is actively upgrading the F22 fighter jet with the aim of continuing to be the best fighter of its kind in the world before the next generation of air superiority fighter NGAD enters service.
▲ Image source: Internet
Theoretically, stealth fighters should try not to carry external weapons or other equipment, and should be integrated into the appearance of the stealth design as much as possible, such as the cannon weapon bay and so on. And the F22 fighter being tested carries two external structures under the wings, the smaller one on the outside and the larger one on the inside. According to the American media, the smaller one on the outside is the infrared sensor pod, while the larger one on the inside is the stealth-shaped fuel tank. These two are well understood, the former in order to increase the F22's detection ability and battlefield perception ability, and improve the attack ability. The latter is relatively simple, increasing the range of the F22 in stealth mode, which is also a major shortcoming of the F22 all along.
▲ Image source: Internet
The F22 fighter was developed in the 80s and 90s of the last century, and because of this, the F22 missed a lot of advanced designs, which can be clearly perceived compared with the F35. The F22 is very compact, and its size is even smaller than that of the F15, far smaller than the mainland's J-20 and Su-27 series of large fighters. Although the maximum take-off weight of the F22 fighter is not small, reaching 38 tons, it has an extremely short range due to the fact that the interior space is quite compact and there is still a large part of the space left for the bomb bay structure. In fact, at the beginning of the development of the F22 fighter, the main consideration was European operations, which were used to intercept Soviet fighters and bombers, but after the service, the situation in the world changed, and the pressure came to the Asia-Pacific region, and the shortcomings of the F22 began to be gradually exposed.
▲ Image source: Internet
Under normal circumstances, the F22 can carry auxiliary fuel tanks, which can significantly increase the range of the F22 fighter just like an ordinary fighter. But the problem is that the drop fuel tank can be discarded, and it is still unknown whether stealth can be restored after abandoning the drop tank. The stealth auxiliary fuel tank tested now can not only maintain stealth capability in the carrying state, but also continue to maintain the stealth capability of the F22 fighter after abandonment, which is equivalent to increasing the range of the F22 without affecting the stealth capability. Of course, the US media has also speculated that considering that the volume of the auxiliary fuel tank mounted under this wing is large enough, and at the same time it has stealth capabilities, so it can be equipped with missiles inside it to expand the ammunition carrying capacity of the F22 fighter, and it is even possible to carry precision-guided weapons such as JDAM bombs.
▲ Image source: Internet
According to the current statement of the United States, the new stealth auxiliary fuel tank has begun testing in the near future and will be delivered to the troops as soon as March 2026. As the 6th generation fighter program of the US Air Force, NGAD is still a shadowless project and will definitely not be in service in the short term, so the F22 fighter has to continue to fight. After a significant upgrade of the opponent's fighters, the F22 fighters are clearly feeling unprecedented pressure. So judging by the degree of improvement of the F22 by the United States, the current standard of the F22 fighter is definitely not the first in the world. The United States also intends to test a variety of new equipment and new combat concepts on the F22 and use it in future NGAD programs. However, as a fighter whose architecture is indeed a little old, no matter how it is upgraded, it cannot be compared with a new generation of fighters with more advanced development concepts, which is also the real advantage of maintaining technological superiority for a long time. Of course, this technology is not a high-end technology, and it is completely learnable for the mainland's J-20 and J-35, especially the smaller J-35, which will greatly increase its combat strength.
▲ Image source: Internet