The case for speed, height & stealth

This writer had a quick, ‘back of a napkin’ lesson on the value of speed and altitude from a retired RAAF fighter pilot recently. He explained that, if a fighter sized aircraft can maintain altitudes of more than 50,000 feet and speeds of Mach 1.5+, then it is almost impervious to most surface-to-air or air-to-air missile threats. He showed me that, any aircraft flying in straight horizontal flight has an engagement bubble the shape of an oval around it. If fired upon from within that bubble, a missile has a good chance of being able to track and close on that aircraft, but as the aircraft flies higher and faster, that bubble flattens out and becomes more and more elongated to the point where, in the case of the remarkable Mach 3.2+ capable SR-71 Blackbird family of reconnaissance aircraft, the bubble is almost flat on the sides and extends way ahead of the aircraft, meaning side on and tail shots are next to impossible. In fact, the only way to hit something like the SR71 is from in front by shooting way ahead of the aircraft and hoping that a), you’ve guessed the missile’s flight time correctly and, b) it doesn’t deviate more than a couple of degrees from its course.

Although it can’t reach the altitudes or speeds of the stratospheric SR-71, the F-22 offers similar advantages of impunity. Its speed and stealth make it very difficult to track let alone lock on to, and its thrust vectoring-assisted manoeuvrability at those speeds allows it to quickly and safely change course when faced with a missile threat or launch.

The value of speed and altitude was amply demonstrated to me when I flew a declassified F-22 simulator in Washington DC in 2006. When flying at 30,000 feet and 500 knots, the ‘god’s eye view’ display in front of me clearly showed SAM sites ahead of our flight track with large overlapping red circles reaching out towards us, indicating the coverage of their search radars. My very patient instructor then had me accelerate to Mach 1.5 and climb to 50,000 feet, and as we did so, the red circles began to retreat until they were no longer overlapping, thus opening up the simulated enemy’s integrated air defence system and allowing me to get close enough to launch a JDAM at the SAM site whilst staying outside the circle. Similarly, when faced with a flight of simulated Su-27s, the display clearly showed red circles around their formation indicating their radars reach, but as I accelerated and climbed, the circles grew smaller even as I closed on them, allowing me to launch a brace of AMRAAMs at their formation and turn away long before crossing their circle’s perimeter. No doubt these simulated graphics were significantly toned down for my humble media level clearances, so I can only assume the real thing must be eye-watering in combat!

That same simulation also demonstrated the advantages of speed and altitude when launching weapons. If an F-22 launches a JDAM in a toss manoeuvre from above 50,000 feet at Mach 1.5, that weapon is going to fly a long, long way down range, several times that in fact of a similar weapon launched by a more conventional fighter from 30,000 feet and Mach 0.8, and will still hit within a few feet of its intended target. Similarly, an AMRAAM launched with similar parameters will be given a similar boost and will be able to dive down on top of its intended target and thus maintain energy in the end game long after its motor has burned out.

Another advantage of being able to maintain operating heights of 50,000 feet is in the situational awareness it brings the pilot. The horizon is a lot further away at 50,000 feet than it is at 30,000 feet, meaning an F-22 pilot is more likely to have direct line of sight to other elements of his network such as AEW&C, smart tankers, UAVs and satellites. And, as enemy aircraft are highly unlikely to be able to approach an F-22’s position from above and/or behind, its radar and other sensors can be focussed on ground based targets or at lower altitudes.

Exercises such as Northern Edge in Alaska have also demonstrated the F-22’s ability to act as a ‘mini-AEW&C’ once its weapons have been expended by virtue of its powerful AESA radar, ESM suite, and its datalinks, although the datalink is only optimised for F-22 to F-22 communications in its current form.

Sun Tzu’s Art Of War says ‘If the enemy holds the high ground, do not ascend and do battle with him’, while a key fighter pilot law is ‘Speed Is Life’ – both of these sayings are applicable to the F-22.