How fast is a fighter jet?

The F-22 Raptor was the world’s first operational fifth-generation fighter and remains one of the most advanced aircraft to date. Lockheed Martin receives much of the credit for making the aircraft what it is today, but the aerospace company is not the only company responsible for the F-22’s biggest strengths and weaknesses. Both Boeing and Pratt & Whitney helped bring the F-22 to prominence since it entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 2005. Lockheed Martin and Boeing designed the aircraft, and Pratt & Whitney built the twin-engine F119. PW-100 turbofan engines with afterburners and two-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzles can each produce 35,000 pounds of power. pierce.

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Although it’s not the fastest fighter jet the Air Force has, that title goes to the F-15E Strike Eagle. But it’s there. How fast you go depends on your altitude. The lower the altitude, the higher the level of drag, while the higher the altitude, the lower the drag. At sea level, it reaches a top speed of 921 miles per hour or Mach 1.21. However, at higher altitudes it can exceed Mach 2, or 1,534 miles per hour.

The Air Force’s F-22 manual lists the Raptor’s top speed as Mach 2, but according to The War Zone, James E. “JB” Brown was determined to prove that it was possible. It is said that it once reached speeds of Mach 2.1. Brown is a former Air Force chief test pilot and president and CEO of the National Test Pilot School.

Pushing an F-22 or other fighter jet to top speed might save time, but that requires using the fighter’s afterburner, which burns more fuel, so use it strategically. need to. To break this down, a fighter jet’s afterburner injects fuel directly into the airstream. So when the fuel jets out, the oxygen is forced to expand, which creates an energetic force that propels the jet forward faster. Pilots can maintain supersonic speeds for short periods of time without using afterburners, but if they want to maintain speeds above the speed of sound, they usually need to use afterburners periodically.

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However, engineers around the world have managed to design some super-cruising jets. Supercruise is the ability of an airplane to maintain supersonic speed without activating afterburners, and the F-22 is one such airplane. Being able to cruise through the air faster than Mach 1 without activating afterburners means the plane can reach its destination faster without consuming more fuel.

A jet that maintains Mach 1 without afterburner meets the definition of supercruise, but the Raptor exceeds Mach 1.5 during supercruise. In fact, you can reach Mach 1.6 or 1.7 without breaking a sweat. Additionally, the supercruise capability means the Raptor can maintain stealth capabilities, as its afterburners generate a heat signature that is greater than can be detected by enemy radar systems.

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