Delivery to the USAF's test center at Edwards Air Force Base on August 26 of the second Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor next-generation fighter will result in a rapid build-up of flight test experience, meeting the contractual obligation to accumulate 183 hours before year-end in order to free official funds for the next stage of the program.

Speaking live from Edwards to the press at a Farnborough '98 forum on Monday, project pilot Steve Rainey also disclosed that the No. 1 aircraft would achieve supersonic flight for the first time next month.

Fielding questions from a packed audience in a stifling conference room here were Lockheed Martin chief test pilot Paul Metz and Boeing project pilot Chuck Killberg, the former having flown Raptor No 1 for the first time exactly a year before, on September 7, 1997. That aircraft was ferried to Edwards inside a Lockheed C-6 Galaxy transport on February 6 and returned to test duties on May 17. It has since conducted aerial re-starts using the APU, flutter testing, emergency landing gear extension and air refueling.

The last-mentioned is a delight, says Metz, as the Raptor is remarkably steady. In all, 300 flying qualities test points have been accomplished to date.

No 2 flew at the Marietta, Georgia, factory airfield on June 29. After completing a radar cross-section (stealth) trial, it was flown the 2,000 miles to Edwards, where remaining tests will be conducted. As of yesterday, the two had generated 60 hours, with No. 1 halfway through its program and No. 2, a quarter. The USAF has asked Lockheed Martin to bring forward the critical 183rd hour to Thanksgiving (late November), if possible.

In the course of this, the Raptor is expected to demonstrate 20 degrees (nose-up) angle-of-attack next week and increase the angle to 26 degrees during October. The first supersonic mission will be a significant step forward, given that the Raptor is able to exceed Mach 1 without resort to afterburner-the so-called "supercruise."

"The Raptor likes to be fast," said Metz, adding that pilots have to be careful not to create a sonic boom by accident.

Given that all specified test objectives are achieved within the 183 hours, authorization will be awarded in December for long lead-time items in the first production lot of two F-22As. Both are earmarked to join the nine prototypes in a 4,337-hour test program of 2,409 sorties, including dedicated Initial Operational Test and Evaluation during 2002-03. After that, it will be up to the squadrons of the USAF, but we can hope that before then, a Raptor can spare time from the test schedule to show its capabilities to the Farnborough crowd.

By Paul Jackson