The F-22 Raptor will get a ‘super’ upgrade, says President Trump

This article by Chris Panella was originally published by Business Insider.

President Donald Trump says the F-22 Raptor stealth air-superiority fighter is getting a “super” upgrade.

This could be a big deal for the fifth-generation fighter jet, which the U.S. no longer makes but has updated since it first entered service two decades ago.

Trump announced the news at a meeting with business leaders in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday. During the meeting, he called the F-22 “the most beautiful fighter in the world” and said “we’re going to be doing an F-22 Super” that would be “a very modern version” of the jet.

The F-22 Raptor is a stealth fighter jet manufactured by Lockheed Martin in partnership with Boeing. It’s built to combat hostile airpower through low observability, radical maneuvering capabilities, and other advanced capabilities.

The jet has never fought the kind of high-end threats it was made for. Its most notable air-to-air kill was a Chinese spy balloon. The F-22 has also engaged in air-to-ground combat missions.

The U.S. military says that the F-22 offers pilots a “first-look, first-shot, first-kill advantage over adversaries.”The jet took its first flight in 1997; F-22 production ceased in 2011, but the remaining fighters have received avionics upgrades since then.

Trump didn’t give details on what types of upgrades he was having the US military look into for the jet.

In 2021, then-US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown indicated the jet wasn’t in the Air Force’s long-term plan for a future fighter fleet, and last month, Trump announced the new F-47 stealth jet, the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, an expected replacement for the F-22.

During Thursday’s meeting, Trump accused China of copying the F-22 but didn’t give details on what he was necessarily referring to. “They copied our design but they won’t be able to copy our engines,” he said.

U.S. officials have previously suggested China made a copycat of the F-22 Raptor, called the J-20, Beijing’s first fifth-gen fighter. The similarity has been questioned by some analysts, and there have been accusations that China incorporated stolen US designs for it.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on the upgrades or Trump’s accusation.

It remains unclear whether Trump is envisioning simple upgrades or a massive overhaul. What that means for Lockheed is uncertain. The production line is inactive, and supply chains are cold. Trump’s plan for a new F-22 Super could be a substantial change.

Feature Image: A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, soon to be replaced by the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Stefan Alvarez)

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