100 word summary: In 2012, German Eurofighter Typhoons out-maneuvered US Air Force F-22 Raptors during Red Flag exercises, sparking debate over the Raptor’s air superiority. These simulated dogfights took place within visual range, negating the F-22’s stealth advantages beyond visual range as well.

-While the Raptor usually prevails through stealth and situational awareness, its agility was compromised in exercises due to its external fuel tanks, giving the Typhoon a slight advantage. Despite the notional losses, the F-22’s advanced technology and stealth still position it as a dominant platform.

-Exercises point out that even elite fighters like the Raptor are not invincible under the right circumstances.

F-22 Raptor vs. Eurofighter Typhoon: Can Europe’s Fighter Challenge America’s Best?

Despite the F-22 Raptor’s reputation as the world’s most capable air superiority fighter, the stealth jet has lost a number of notional battles over the years to older, less advanced platforms like the F-16 and even the Navy’s electronic warfare specialist, the Growler EA-18G. But few exercises have damaged the reputation of the mighty Raptor more than a series of training dogfights with German Eurofighter Typhoons that took place nearly a decade ago.

These losses may have been notionalbut some people clearly took them seriously. So serious, in fact, that German Eurofighters have been seen carrying F-22s kill the bookmarks on their fuselages after telling the press that they had “Kidnappers salad for lunch.”

With the Air Force’s next-generation Air Dominance aviator heading into service for the next decade, it now seems likely that the mighty Raptor will retire without ever firing a shot at another aircraft in anger, doing these simulated combat exercises and a handful of exciting interceptions the extent of the Raptor’s air-to-air heritage.

So what it is that legacy exactly? Is the F-22 really as dominant as people think? Or this fighter’s biggest advantage isn’t stealth… but hype?

Arguments regarding the F-22 and Eurofighter Typhoon stem largely from the participation of German Eurofighters in the Air Force’s large-scale Red Flag air combat exercises in Alaska in 2012.

Red Flag is an advanced air combat training course that pits a wide variety of aircraft, often from multiple nations, against large-scale, realistic threats designed to simulate real close combat.

In that year, Germany SENT 150 Airmen and eight Eurofighter Typhoons from JG 74, or the Luftwaffe’s 74th Tactical Air Force Wing, to Eielson AFB in Alaska to participate in a wide variety of missions over two weeks. These included a series of close-range Basic Fighter Maneuver (BFM) exercises with America’s Raptors. BFM, of course, is the fighter pilot language for dog fightts.

After the exercises ended, German Eurofighter pilots arrived at the 2012 Farnborough International Air Show, where they were quick to discuss their victories over F-22. According to David Cenciotti’s coverage for The aviatorGerman Typhoon pilots explained that when the F-22 was flying with external fuel tanks attached and fighting in visual rangeThe Typhoons were often able to outrun the Raptor.

HOW DOES THE EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON COMPARE TO THE F-22 RAPTOR?

Despite their generational differences, the F-22 Raptor and the Eurofighter Typhoon actually have a number of things in common. Both were originally designed to serve as air superiority fighters born out of the Cold War, with Typhoon first in the skies in 1994, with the F-22 following in 1997. Both fighters also ultimately entered service in the early to mid-2000s, the Typhoon entered active service in 2003, and the Raptor, again, following behind. in 2005.

But despite these aircraft being designed around the same time to serve in similar capacities, they differ dramatically in how they accomplish their mission.

The F-22 Raptor was always meant to be a revolution in air power, leaning heavily on America’s revolutionary stealth technology to produce what was – and remains – the stealthiest operational fighter on the face of the planet. But it’s not just stealth that makes the Raptor a capable platform. It also boasts a high degree of sensor fusion and advanced avionics that enable an extreme degree of situational awareness while reducing the cognitive load on the pilot. In other words, the F-22’s on-board computers allow the pilot to pay more attention fight and less so when operating the aircraft.

“When you fly the Raptor, you’re not thinking about flying the Raptor,” explained F-22 pilot Randy Gordon in a course said at MIT: “You think about hiring The kidnapper. Flight is secondary.”

But the F-22 is not all about stealth and sensor fusion. It also incorporates elements of what might be considered 4th generation dogfighting design: such as thrust vector control – or the ability to orient its jet nozzles independently of the airframe to perform incredibly acrobatic maneuvers, a high traction-to-weight ratio and a M61A2 20mm Gatling gun that can fire 480 rounds on board at a rate of 6,000 rounds per minute.

“Raptor has thrust vectoring: Typhoon doesn’t,” RAF Typhoon pilot and Squadron Leader Rich Wells said Breaking Defense in 2013. “What the aircraft can do, it’s incredible. Typhoon just doesn’t do that.”

And while it typically carries a total of eight weapons internally (six AMRAAMs and two AIM-9 Sidewinders), it can be equipped with four external pylon stations for additional munitions when it’s tired of speaking softly and decides to become its own his big stick.

As a result, the F-22 brings together two combat philosophies, offering such a high degree of stealth and situational awareness that it can win most engagements before the adversary even knows it is there, alongside a very respectable array of traditional dogfights that let you stand and rock with the most dynamic hotrod dogfighters of the previous generation.

The Eurofighter Typhoon, on the other hand, did not aim to reinvent the existing model of air superiority so much as to perfect as it was. Its delta-wing design, a shape almost adopted from its defunct F-22 bomber sibling, provides a high degree of subsonic maneuverability along with increased lift and range. The design, as well as the materials that make up the Typhoon, all give it a greater degree of stealth than you would find in most comparably advanced 4th generation fighters.

Actually, conformable Eurofighter Promotional Materials: The aircraft is built with advanced composite materials to provide a low radar profile and strong structure. Only 15% of the aircraft’s surface is metal, providing stealth operation and protection against radar-based systems.”

Like many other fighter jets, including the F-22, the Typhoon also uses electronic warfare capabilities to hide its radar return. And unlike the maintenance-heavy Raptor, the Typhoon was designed to be easy to service, assembled from 15 interchangeable modules to minimize repair time. When I’m up close and personal, Typhoon’s Mauser BK27mm fires at 1,000 or 1,700 rounds per minute with 150 rounds on board.

Since entering service, the Typhoon has matured into a highly capable multi-role platform, leaving behind its air superiority roots to become one of the most complete fighters in service today, leveraging its 13 hardpoints for a wide variety of mission sets.

“The Eurofighter is certainly, in terms of smoothness of controls and ability to fire (and sustain high G-forces), very impressive.” explicitly Gen. John P. Jumper, former Air Force Chief of Staff and among the few pilots to fly both the Raptor and the Typhoon. “That’s what it was designed to do, especially the version I flew, with the avionics, the color moving map displays, etc. — all absolutely top notch. The maneuverability of the aircraft in close combat was also very impressive.”

The Typhoon’s pair of Eurojet EJ200 afterburner turbofan engines aren’t as powerful as the Raptor’s, propelling the Eurofighter to a top speed of Mach 2, vice Raptors 2.25 – but top speed doesn’t mean much in a fighter, and the Eurofighter. The comparatively lighter weight allows for a better thrust-to-weight ratio for the Typhoon (in its interceptor configuration) than a similarly equipped Raptor.

F-22 VS. EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE EXERCISES?

While many details remain murky, there are a few things we know for sure about these dogfighting exercises from 2012. Based on pilot statements, we know that at least some (if not all) of them were one-on-one engagements . Most importantly, they took place in visual range with a number of reports stating that the Raptor carried stealth (and stunts) that prevented external fuel tanks.

This distinction is critical because it means that the fights began under a forced claim that effectively neutralized the Raptor’s greatest strength: its ability to use stalling and situational awareness to dictate how a fight starts and whether fuel tank reports are true, its acrobatic handling. .

In real life, the F-22 pilots would almost certainly be aware of the Typhoon before the Typhoon is aware of it, allowing the Raptor to put itself in an advantageous position before combat begins (or simply take the Typhoon out of range visual). And it goes without saying that no pilot would fight for their life with external fuel tanks still hanging from their wings.