One thing I noticed on the "Superman Returns" movie. There is a clip where superman flies into the sky and they actually thought about putting a sonic boom cone around him.

On topic. Great pic.

feel so sorry for the fake pilots flying these around while other pilots are flying the AG crafts.

GREAT shot but my hart will always belong to the SR71 THE most sexiest plane made ever, and those engines an engineering feat.

Nice pic !!!!!

Now cue the guys that think the F-22 has anti gravity

It is a lovely pic, well posted.

But, a fighter that can supercruise without burners? We did that in 1954, since then us Euros built an airliner that can supercruise at mach 2 fully loaded, flew it for 30 years and got bored with it. come on America, catch up!

[edit on 27-6-2009 by waynos]

Actually supercruise is defined as not only being to cruise supersonically without afterburners but also to be able to break the sound barrier without afterburners. The first part is easy, it's been done for years but the last part is unique to the F-22. It actually takes a lot of energy to get through that trans-sonic region between 0.9 and 1.1 Mach which - before the Raptor - required afterburners.

Originally posted by dragon72
Actually supercruise is defined as not only being to cruise supersonically without afterburners but also to be able to break the sound barrier without afterburners. The first part is easy, it's been done for years but the last part is unique to the F-22. It actually takes a lot of energy to get through that trans-sonic region between 0.9 and 1.1 Mach which - before the Raptor - required afterburners.

Actually, the Raptor is still not the first aircraft to do that - that honour does infact sit with the English Electric Lightning, and even that isnt the only other aircraft to do it.

Concorde certainly could supercruise, only it never did because it was more economical to get through the transonic area on reheat as it used less fuel (it stayed in the high drag area less time on reheat).

Even the F-14 could supercruise in low weight configurations, but these configurations were pointless to use so it never did it.

But still, I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Eurofighter! One of its core abilities and features is supercruise, and it became operational before the F-22 did, so it certainly counts. Come on Waynos, what were you thinking?!

So the F-22 is not unique in this ability, and it isn't the first either.

Originally posted by dragon72
Actually supercruise is defined as not only being to cruise supersonically without afterburners but also to be able to break the sound barrier without afterburners. The first part is easy, it's been done for years but the last part is unique to the F-22. It actually takes a lot of energy to get through that trans-sonic region between 0.9 and 1.1 Mach which - before the Raptor - required afterburners.

When the English Electric P.1 (the proto-Lightning) first achieved mach 1.5 it wasn't even *fitted* with afterburners, so 'unique' is slightly inaccurate.

Also, how can supercruise be defined as accelerating through the sound barrier? It has the word 'cruise' in it. Or is this a case of the US trying to redefine the word to fit the F-22?

OED entry for 2011;

'Supercruise - the ability to maintain a speed of at least mach 1.5 (1.4 isn't enough) having accelerasted through the sound barrier without the use of afterburners in an aeroplane, unless said aeroplane is not American, stealthy, and cost a bloody fortune to develop.'



At one time, in plain english, Supercruising was sustaining a speed greater than mach 1 on dry thrust alone. At least until the USAF realised this had already been done

Richard, I didn't want to fan the flames too highly

[edit on 29-6-2009 by waynos]

This is what Lockheed says:

F-22 testing marks the first time in history a fighter has flown supercruise, sustaining speeds of Mach 1.5 or greater without using afterburner, achieved at a low power setting, and at less than 275 flight hours in the testing process.

From Air Force News:

In the context of the F-22 Raptor, supercruise is defined as the ability to cruise at speeds of one and a half times the speed of sound or greater without the use of afterburner for extended periods in combat configuration. In fact, once operational, the F-22 will be able to fly large portions of its combat missions in supercruise mode, a key element to the aircraft's air dominance role.

"Sustaining the target Mach was not difficult for the Raptor," said Col. C.D. Moore, Combined Test Force commander, at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "The difficulty was keeping the Raptor from going faster than the target speed. Yesterday the airplane demonstrated that it can achieve awesome speed, flying above 1.5 Mach at a low power setting, for a sustained period of time. No other fighter in the world can do that."

From what I am reading, what makes the F22 unique regarding supercruise is that it can remain in supercruise for very long periods of time and during normal combat operations due to the fact that the engines are highly efficient or something like that.



[edit on 6/29/2009 by WhatTheory]