I've also heard, however, that the F-22 is second to none in ACM and BFM. How so? It can only be good at that type of thing to a point. Short of changing physics, making the plane out of some fictional alien space craft alloy, or creating some sort of anti-G bubble for the pilot, what else can you do? What exactly makes the F-22 so much more manueverable than the F-16? Can it all be chaulked up to thrust-vectoring nozzles and such?
"The true top-speed of the F-22 is largely unknown, as engine power is only one factor. The ability of the airframe to withstand the stress and heat from friction is a key factor, especially in an aircraft using as many polymers as the F-22. However, while some aircraft are faster on paper, the internal carriage of its standard combat load allows the aircraft to reach comparatively higher performance with a heavy load over other modern aircraft due to its lack of drag from external stores. It is one of only a handful of aircraft that can sustain supersonic flight without the use of afterburner augmented thrust, i.e. supercruise. The fuel usage from using afterburners greatly reduces flight time.
The F-22 is highly maneuverable, at both supersonic and subsonic speeds. The F-22's thrust vectoring nozzles allow the aircraft to turn tightly, and perform extremely high alpha (angle of attack) maneuvers such as the Herbst maneuver (or J-turn), Pugachev's Cobra,[17] and the Kulbit, though the J-Turn is more useful in combat.[17] The F-22 is also capable of maintaining a constant angle of attack of over 60�, yet still having some control of roll.[17][18] Cruise altitude is a huge factor in performance. During June 2006 exercises in Alaska, F-22 pilots routinely attributed their altitude advantage as major factor in an unblemished kill ratio.[19]
In early 2006, after an exercise involving just eight F-22s in Nevada in Nov. 2005, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Hecker, commander of the 27th Fighter Squadron (FS) at Langley AFB, Virginia, commented "We killed 33 F-15Cs and didn't suffer a single loss. They didn't see us at all."[30]
In June 2006 during Exercise Northern Edge (Alaska's largest joint military training exercise), the F-22A achieved a 144-to-zero kill-to-loss ratio against F-15s, F-16s and F/A-18s simulating MiG-29 'Fulcrums', Su-30 'Flankers', and other current front line Russian aircraft, which outnumbered the F-22A 5 to 1 at times.[19][31] The small F-22 force of 12 aircraft generated 49% of the total kills for the exercise, and operated with an unprecedented reliability rate of 97%.[27]
The F-22 is also extremely difficult to defeat during dogfighting. At Red Flag 2007, RAAF Squadron Leader Stephen Chappell, F-15 exchange pilot in the 65th Aggressor Squadron, commented that "The thing (F-22) denies your ability to put a weapons system on it, even when I can see it through the canopy. It's the most frustrated I've ever been."[32]"
Source:
Wikipedia
