Watch This F-22 Raptor Execute A Mind-Blowing Inverted Somersault At Altitude

Updated Mar 2, 2018 12:24 PM EST

Russia and its lineup of thrust vectoring fighters—namely modern Flanker derivatives like the Su-35 —have certainly stolen the show when it comes to displaying extreme slow-speed maneuverability and other post-stall aerobatic feats. But the F-22, with its high thrust-to-weight ratio, huge control surfaces, and especially its two-dimensional thrust vectoring, can holds its own in this regard as well.

Case in point, this pretty damn amazing clip of an F-22 executing a big belly-first somersault at altitude. The jet seems to defy physics as its nose quickly changes from pointing one direction to the other.

Although extreme low-speed maneuvering has limited utility in modern air combat, for the F-22 its ability to quickly turn the tables on its enemy at low-speed is more important than it would be otherwise due to the lack of specific equipment on the jet. Although the Raptor now fields the AIM-9X Sidewinder, it still lacks a helmet mounted sight to aim the missile at targets located far off the jet’s centerline axis.

The next generation Sidewinder does have a wider field of view, longer detection range, and can still be cued to targets far off boresight by the F-22’s APG-77 AESA radar, but in hard maneuvering fights, the pilot still has to point the jet at the target to some degree in order to get the missile to lock on and thus kill the enemy. Most fighters currently in service, including Russia’s thrust vectoring types, have helmet mounted sights to aim their short-range air-to-air missiles.

You can read all about these tactics and how they apply to various aircraft and scenarios in this previous piece , but suffice it to say, beyond one-versus one dogfights, ending up in a very low energy state is a bad place to be whether you vanquish an enemy fighter or not. Yet convoluted air combat environments with strict rules of engagement, like the one over Syria , remind us that within-visual-range air combat can’t be fully discounted. This is also true as a result of new tactics, electronic warfare systems, advanced missiles, and stealthy aircraft that are proliferating around the globe. Beyond that, in some cases F-22 pilots will need to use all their missiles, and no, the AIM-9X is not there for purely defensive purposes, nor is the gun.

Beyond the within-visual-range combat arena, the F-22’s thrust vectoring also helps it significantly with flight control at extreme altitudes and high-speeds. The Raptor community is known to hunt as high up as 60,000 feet and can supercruise (fly faster than the speed of sound for sustained periods without the use of gas-guzzling and easy to detect afterburner) at speeds greater than Mach 1.5.

Regardless of one of the most contested subjects in modern warfare and the F-22’s high-altitude abilities, this video is just another reminder that the Raptor has a deep bag of tricks and it remains the gold standard of fighter aircraft the world over.

The clip was grabbed from this awesome video from the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation, check it out in full below:

Contact the author: Typer@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2018年3月2日下午12:24。

俄罗斯及其推力矢量战斗机系列——尤其是像苏-35这样的现代侧卫衍生机型——在展现极低速机动性和失速后特技飞行方面无疑技压群雄。但F-22凭借其高推重比、巨大的控制面，特别是其二维推力矢量系统，在这方面也毫不逊色。

举个例子，这段F-22战斗机在高空做出一个惊人的机腹翻滚的视频真是令人叹为观止。这架战机似乎违背了物理定律，机头迅速从一个方向指向另一个方向。

尽管极低速机动在现代空战中的实用性有限，但对于F-22猛禽战斗机而言，由于其缺乏专用设备，低速快速扭转战局的能力显得尤为重要。虽然猛禽战斗机现在装备了AIM-9X响尾蛇导弹，但它仍然缺少头盔瞄准器，无法瞄准远离机身中心轴线的目标。

下一代“响尾蛇”导弹拥有更宽广的视野和更远的探测距离，并且仍然可以借助F-22的APG-77有源相控阵雷达瞄准远偏离瞄准线的目标。但在激烈的空战中，飞行员仍然需要将战机指向目标一定角度，才能使导弹锁定目标并击落敌机。目前大多数现役战斗机，包括俄罗斯的推力矢量战斗机，都配备了头盔瞄准具来瞄准其短程空空导弹。

您可以在之前的文章中详细了解这些战术及其在各种飞机和场景中的应用，但简而言之，除了单挑之外，无论是否击落敌机，陷入极低能量状态都是非常不利的。然而，像叙利亚上空那样复杂且交战规则严格的空战环境提醒我们，视距内空战不容忽视。随着新型战术、电子战系统、先进导弹和隐形飞机在全球范围内的普及，这一点也更加凸显。此外，在某些情况下，F-22飞行员需要使用所有导弹，而且AIM-9X导弹和机炮并非纯粹用于防御。

在视距内作战之外，F-22的推力矢量控制技术也显著提升了其在高空和高速飞行时的操控性能。猛禽战机以在高达60,000英尺（约18,000米）的高空进行猎杀而闻名，并能以超过1.5马赫的速度进行超音速巡航（无需使用耗油量大且易于探测的加力燃烧室即可长时间以超音速飞行）。

尽管现代战争中最具争议的话题之一就是F-22的高空作战能力，但这段视频再次提醒我们，猛禽战机拥有丰富的作战技巧，并且仍然是世界战斗机的黄金标准。

这段视频片段截取自空军遗产飞行基金会发布的精彩视频，请在下方观看完整版：

联系作者：Typer@thedrive.com

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