Miller parked the Raptor in front of the entrance to the laboratory, which allowed me the opportunity to absorb its grace and sleek lines.  The aircraft has a smooth look to it that belies its lethality….like a Miata with wings.   I was accustomed to the intimidating hard-edged appearance of the older fighter generation.  But the advent of stealth technology, incorporated in the F-117 and B-2 bombers and now adapted to the Raptor, required that reflective surfaces needed to be minimized in order to protect the aircraft’s stealthiness.  Without being seen, how can it be targeted? 

Amidst a phalanx of media from the ABC and NBC affiliates Miller nimbly parried the barrage of questions—one could envision this salt and pepper, steely-eyed warrior in the throes of aerial combat at speeds and g-forces approaching the ludicrous.  Colin encapsulated the Raptor, “It can’t lose.”  But for the time being the Raptor was to be locked up in the laboratory--not to see the light of day for several months.  The testing program of the Raptor is complex and was behind schedule.  Furthermore, the aircraft would have to fight its first battle in Congress and the Pentagon.  The planned total buy of 396 Raptors had been whittled down several times under the budgetary knife of DoD and was threatened to be pared to 180 aircraft.  Chief of Staff General John Jumper has winced through several attempts to cut the total buy—his “kick the door down” strategy looking more like a polite knock.

The closeness forged under the rigors of aviation and combat is a connective tissue that often creates immediate rapport through common reference points.  So it was with myself and Dick Mather, retired F-15 pilot, now working for Lockheed-Martin developing business and showcasing the F/A-22’s sophisticated avionics and weapons system.  Mather and I met at the annual Air Armament Summit in Sandestin, an event that brings together military and defense industry partners to shape the future of aerial weaponry.  The most notable product spawned from this brain trust was the incorporation of Hellfire missiles on the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles currently stalking Al-Qaeda.

Mather had me step into the F/A-22 simulator, which replicates the aircraft in avionics and weapons performance.  For all the aircraft’s magical performance in the air, the real business of the Raptor is inside its gleaming cockpit. I was in over my head.  My flying experience dated back to the mid-80s in the F-4, which had the more common radar scope and instrumentation most former piltos are familiar with (the round dial gauges we inherited from steam engines).  But now I was looking at colorful flat panel displays and a bevy of digital readouts—no doubt the design of engineering geeks raised on the Star Trek legacy.

Mather continued acquainting me with the flight controls and focused on the throttle and side-stick functionality. Each had numerous buttons and switches that reminded me of the reference the F-15 pilots used—referring to it as “playing the piccolo” due to the dexterous finger actions necessary to target and analyze radar contacts. After an uneventful takeoff and cruise to altitude, I fumbled with the targeting system buttons and switches on the throttle.  But if working the F-15 target system is akin to playing the piccolo, I felt like I was playing 3rd Oboe and my music had fallen to the floor. The maestro raised his baton and I was still fumbling for my music.

I asked Mather about the power of the F/A-22.   He said, “Do you recall the acceleration power of the F-15 when you had your ride in it?” I recalled being able to accelerate going straight up. “Ok, add 40 percent more to that for the Raptor.”  Impressive.  The Lockheed-Martin specifications put the aircraft’s top speed at 1.8 mach, which equates to about 1100 miles per hour, a speed that will get you from Panama City to Pensacola in just over 4 minutes.

After finally managing to harness the awesome power of the Raptor, Mather led me through an aerial combat engagement using the sophisticated avionics system.  We began with 2 F/A-22 versus 4 Soviet-made SU-27s. The target display is surprisingly simple: I see the battle airspace from a top-down perspective; hostile aircraft are red dots; friendly aircraft are green; unknowns are yellow and my wingman is blue.  The genesis of this system must have been inspired by the bright plastic Playskool toys I used to stumble over in my kids room at night.  For the legions of parents fretting about their kids wasting time in video games, there is a small ray of hope: they might become engineers and design the future fighter cockpit.  With this sophisticated, but user-friendly system, it is merely a matter of who has the first look - and  the first shot. The stealthiness of the F/A-22 allowed me the critical first look and first shot before the SU-27s even saw me.

After a few aerial engagements, we flew an air-ground mission. The Raptor can carry two precision-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) as well as its air-air armament.  The JDAM, developed at Eglin Air Force Base’s Air Armament Center, was a workhorse during the bombing in Afghanistan—so much so that stockpiles had been seriously depleted.  The Raptor’s air-ground capability has been emphasized recently by the Air Force and eventually led to the designation of the Raptor from F-22 to F/A-22 to denote its “attack” capabilities or as General Jumper would say, “the Raptor will feed on prey both in the sky and on the ground.”   I was totally smitten with the aircraft’s capabilities.  The only thing the Raptor didn’t do was email the enemy pilot’s family to inform them of his unfortunate encounter.

In September the Raptor sprang from its climatic incarceration at McKinley to take flight once again, having passed all the tests the lab could bring to bear.  The aircraft headed back for further testing of subsystems and a future yet to be shaped by the Pentagon.  Nevertheless, it’s next trip back to the area was preordained and would lead a full complement of F/A-22s to form the first training squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base.  But the first Raptor to actually land at Tyndall has yet to be built--it is on a Lockheed-Martin assembly line in Marietta, Georgia.

Starting at Tyndall Air Force Base and rippling outward to Panama City was a palpable sense of anticipation and energy for the Raptor’s arrival - evidenced by a gauntlet of construction projects that must be delicately navigated.   The carefully constructed beddown plan has already named the first squadron commander as well as the specific aircraft at Marietta that will be the first aircraft: tail number 4018.  Members of the local military and civilian community have gone to the F/A-22 plant in Marietta  and actually watched the process of their 4018 being built.

In one of the flight line hangars under the din of construction clamor, the Air Force activated the 43^rd Squadron to be the first training squadron for new F/A-22 pilots.  Lt Colonel Jeff “Cobra” Harrigian, a veteran of combat missions in both Operation Just Cause and Desert Storm, was the chosen one.  A former F-15 pilot with a master’s degree in aeronautical science, Cobra’s career had aligned itself perfectly through the professional wickets in preparation for the stewardship of the new squadron.  But the acumen, ego and panache inherent in the stereotypical fighter pilot is disguised by his relaxed, self-effacing nature.

When all was ready, all that remained was the simple passing of the 43^rd squadron’s colors.  Colonel Mark Barrett, commander of the 325th Fighter Wing Operations Group, passed the squadron color to Harrigian under a backdrop of a huge American flag and a 1/5th scale model of the F/A-22. Right by his side will be Lt Colonel Robert “Lee Bob” Hinkle, who had been involved with planning the Raptor’s beddown for several years.

Just before Cobra was interviewed on camera for the ABC and NBC affiliates I asked him if he was ready for his 15 minutes of fame. “Five minutes will do, I want to get on with it,” he said. That sense of purpose and energy was evident in his speech. Yes, there is a buzz at Tyndall. Without a plane in the squadron until this summer, his squadron must build a training program and work side-by-side with the technicians to develop a hands-on understanding of this technological bird of prey.  Harrigan and his team will definitely have their handprint on this aircraft as well as the handprint of a proud community. 

Scott Jackson served in the United States Air Force and flew the F-4 Phantom.