The F-22 Raptor is more powerful than you think

America’s F-22 is the most powerful fighter in the world, thanks to its pair of groundbreaking Pratt & Whitney F119 afterburning turbofan engines. However, we sometimes tend to forget just how powerful this fifth-generation fighter is.

Each of the Raptor’s engines is capable of pumping out 26,000 pounds of thrust dry, and a mind-boggling 35,000 pounds of thrust under afterburner. 

These engines are so powerful, in fact, that the F-22 Raptor can supercruise – or fly at supersonic speeds without even using its afterburner – at speeds as high as Mach 1.76.

Tellingly, the F-22 can supercruise faster than the F-35’s publicly disclosed top speed. For added comparison, without its afterburners, the F-22 Raptor still pumps out more thrust than an F-15 Eagle that uses its afterburners at full tilt, or more thrust than two F-16s doing the same. 

So with both of those F119s running at max afterburner, you can probably guess it gets even crazier – and you’d be right. The F-22 actually produces more power under afterburner than the Legendary SR-71 Blackbird, even though the latter had a unique turboramjets engine configuration. 

The Blackbird’s J58 turbojets were uniquely designed to sustain high speeds, but in terms of sheer power, they maxed out at around 34,000 pound of thrust each, or about 68,000 lbs combined – this is 2,000 pounds less than an F-22 with the throttle pushed to the wall. 

But what may be even crazier, depending on your perspective, is how the F-22 compares to commercial airliners. Boeing’s most powerful iteration of the 737, for instance, is almost 144 feet long, with a nearly 118-foot wingspan and enough space inside to carry 230 passengers. This jet can weigh more than 200,000 pounds at take-off, and still reach speeds as high as around .79 Mach… yet, the Raptor’s engines outpush even the 737’s by more than 11,000 pounds!

Of course, the 737 gets much better gas mileage though. 

Feature Image: Two F-22 Raptors fly over the Pacific Ocean during a theater security mission March 9 as part of a deployment to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The Raptors are deployed from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald)

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