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CNN's Rick Lockridge looks at the Lockheed Martin F22 Raptor Windows Media 28K 80K

September 30, 1999
Web posted at: 11:06 a.m. EDT (1506 GMT)

(CNN) -- The F-22 Raptor has been described as the dominant fighter jet for the new century, yet the $62 billion program almost didn't make it out of the old one.

A cost-cutting House of Representatives panel nearly shot down the country's new stealth fighter late this summer.

A compromise vote this week restored funding, but cutbacks could still come later.

The F-22 Raptor is said to be faster, smarter and stealthier than its competitors and U.S. predecessors. It is designed to give fighter pilots like U.S. Air Force F-15 pilot Derek France an overwhelming advantage in any conflict.

"When I am in combat, when missiles are flying, I would just as soon not have a fair fight," France said. "I'd wanna be in this jet."

The Raptor boasts three major technological advances over the current state-of-the-art U.S. fighter, the F-15 Eagle. Those include radar-absorbent coatings and fewer metal parts that make the F-22 all but invisible to battlefield radars.

A second advance, integrated avionics, involves two onboard supercomputers that show the pilot the entire battlefield, the targets and the pursuers.

Since the F-22 all but flies itself, the pilot is free to fight.

"What we try to do is divorce the pilot from those housekeeping chores and make him the real tactician that we are as human operators," said chief test pilot Paul Metz.

The third advance is called supercruise. That gives the plane the power to cruise for long distances at supersonic speeds without using fuel-guzzling afterburners.

Twin Pratt and Whitney engines rated at 35,000 pounds of thrust each make it possible.

"You are going to war with a clear advantage, the ability to get first look, first shot, first kill," said F-22 instructor Dick Mather.

Tom Burbage of Lockheed Martin agreed.

"Ask your kid or grandkids in the year 2015: I want you to go be the first one into a conflict. Pick which airplane you want to fly in. It might be a good test," he said.

According to a government report, the F-22 is months behind on its flight test schedule and a billion dollars over budget.

Lockheed-Martin says those figures are old and no longer accurate.

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