8.7 please
Was the F-22 able the carry the AIM-120B’s but just 4 of them and then get 6 once the C’s entered service?
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I believe the Cs were already in service by that time.
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Yeah, I can’t find any official info or photos showing AIM-120A/Bs loaded on operational F-22s. Those got phased out when AIM-120Cs became widely available by the time the Raptor entered service in 2005.
I could’ve sworn I read somewhere official that service F-22s could use A/B versions, but now I think that might have been from the old ATF program requirements from 1990-91 and before it.
That said, there is photo proof of a YF-22 firing an early AIM-120 with those bigger fins/wings directly from its weapons bay. Gaijin could use this as a precedent to include AIM-120A/Bs on the F-22 in-game.
Also found some interesting stuff while reading Lockheed-Martin F/A-22 Raptor: Stealth Fighter book by Aerofax. It has a diagram showing four AIM-120A missiles fitting in the weapons bay:
Another image is a promo of early AIM-120 on Edo Corporation’s LAU-142/A trapeze launcher developed for the F-22.
By the way, I just finished updating my F-22 suggestion post and completely reorganized all my sources for it.
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From F-22 Raptor in Action - Aircraft No. 223, a book by Lou Drendel.
Good news.
Hawaii ANG’s F-22A Raptors are planned to get HMDs, specifically the Thales Visionix Scorpion helmet-mounted cueing systems, in the near future.
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60 CMs only? Or are they multi-packets?
No clue. The technical specs on the CM dispenser system are classified, and this is literally the only close-up image I’ve found from this book. From what I can see in the photo, there are 36 holes - so 72 total for both sides. My gut says it’s probably multiple packets, but please correct me if I am wrong.
Side note: I did dig up an actual F-22A flare casing example online (MJU-10B, which is just one of several CM types the Raptor uses).
This type the F-22A used is mentioned in this report: Appendix B Characteristics and Analysis of Flares | Alaska Resources Library & Information Services
Maybe countermeasures nerds can decode more from these screenshots. They might mean something else that I’m missing.
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i count like 60ish flares being deployed. so we know its at least that.
also, they appear to be large flares (in the pictures you posted) but maybe im just mixing things up
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Thanks. This confirmed my suspicion. So the MJU-10/B package is just a large flare, yes?
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i wonder if F-22 has spectral flares to deal with most advanced IIR seekers
Maybe later F-22 blocks will have those. They are supposed to use advanced MJU-39 and MJU-40 flares. I don’t have any technical details on those systems.
dispensers? isnt MJU for the countermeasures themselves? or is it some kind of advanced cluster bomb flare
My mistake. They are countermeasure flares, yes. Those are magnesium based kinematic IR countermeasures.
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https://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/Portals/84/documents/FY03/AFD-070223-078.pdf?ver=2016-08-22-092711-130
shouldve googled first before asking, sorry
Yeah, those were what I was looking at. All good.
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well, good to know F-22 will remain competitive even against the latest AAM
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idk why but seems normal caliber to me
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I say 5 to 10 years should be enough, many of the ones we already have has very guessed stats…