More than a decade ago, a Raptor was able to stop two enemy jets without firing a single missile.

Widely considered to be the most advanced fifth-generation fighter jet across the world, the American-made F-22 Raptor is hard to beat. While the platform precedes the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, it retains a level of stealth and top speed that arguably makes it superior. More than a decade ago, a Raptor was able to stop two enemy jets without firing a single missile. It appears the aircraft’s reputation was enough to dissuade the pair of Iranian-piloted F-4 Phantom jets from continuing to harass the American MQ-1 drone they had been pursuing.

This noteworthy incident occurred in March 2013, just a few months after two Russian Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes flown by Iran tried to bring down another US Predator unmanned aerial vehicle. While the Frogfoots were unsuccessful in this particular pursuit, this event encouraged the United States to provide fighter escorts to escort its drones for a period of time. The Iranians, however, were unaware of this change in policy. So, when the Phantoms began to target the Predator drone later that year, they were surely shocked to run into its Raptor protector. According to then-Air Force chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh, the F-22 pilot flew underneath the Phantoms, checked out their armaments, then pulled up right next to one of the jets. When the F-22 pilot radioed the infamous “you oughta go home” line to the pilots, the Phantoms listened carefully and retreated.

The F-22

As the premiere platform to ever combine stealth, supermaneuvrability, and supercruise, the Raptors are quite impressive. The fifth-generation platform was designed during the Cold War as a replacement for the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters. In order to dominate the Soviets’ own aerial fleet at the time, including fighters like the Su-27 Flanker and Mikoyan MiG Fulcrum, the F-22 was designed with superiority in mind. Equipped with a small radar cross-section, the F-22 is capable of flying at supersonic speeds while remaining virtually impossible to detect. In fact, the Raptor’s cross-section is even smaller than the F-35 Lightning II, making it a tad stealthier. The F-22s are equipped with two Pratt & Whitney F110-PW-110 turbofan engines, which provide a total thrust of roughly 70,000 pounds.

The F-4

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 “Phantom” first entered service with the US Air Force in the early 1960s. The two-seat, twin-engine, long-range supersonic jet interceptor instantly gained a top-notch reputation following its operational debut. Powered by two nearly 18,000-pound-thrust J79-GE-17 General Electric engines, the F-4 could reach speeds of almost 1,500 miles per hour with a range of 1,750 miles. In terms of armament power, the Phantom was equipped to carry the AAM-N-6 Sparrow III radar-guided missile. Iran got its hands on the Phantom platform prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution that culminated in the fall of the shah. US administrations had supported the Shah and delivered many F-4s to Iran during this period, including 32 F-4Ds, 177 F-4Es, and 16 RF-4Es.

About the Author: Maya Carlin

Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has bylines in many publications, including The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. 

Image: DVIDS.

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