Comparison With Competitors
In terms of most of the specifications you want in an air superiority fighter, the F-22 is still superior to newer fighters such as China’s J-20, which isn’t as stealthy and can’t supercruise, and Russia’s SU-57, which is significantly less stealthy. One way to characterize the difference between the F-22, and the SU-57 and the J-20, is that the F-22, while being multirole, was primarily designed to be an air-dominance fighter. In contrast, both the SU-57 and the J-20 were designed to be multirole fighters from the outset, with much more emphasis on being strike fighters.One of the areas that the F-22 doesn’t excel in relative to other large air superiority fighters is its fuel capacity and range. Sure, the F-22’s excellent aerodynamics allow it to match the range of the much smaller, blockier F-35A, which has the same internal fuel capacity as the F-22, but it comes nowhere close to matching the range of the plane it was supposed to replace, the F-15 Eagle. And fuel capacity is about more than range and endurance; it’s also about the extent to which a fighter will be able to execute the high-speed, high-G defensive and offensive maneuvers that can make the difference between success and failure, life and death.
Finally, in going up against a peer competitor such as China or Russia, inflight refueling availability close to contested air space will be significantly reduced. Bottom line, while there are some scenarios where more fuel may not make much of a difference, there are far more scenarios in which having more fuel will be an advantage. Perhaps even a decisive advantage.
This brings us back to China’s J-20, which on paper looks inferior to the F-22 as an air superiority fighter with the big exception of fuel capacity. Indeed, the J-20’s internal fuel capacity of 4,166 gallons is 75 percent greater than the F-22’s 2,400 gallons. While this may or may not translate into 75 percent more range/endurance for the larger J-20, it almost certainly translates into at least 50 percent more range.
This is where the new, low-drag, stealthy conformal fuel tanks enter the picture. Assuming they can carry the same amount of fuel as the older non-stealthy drop tanks, 1,200 gallons, they should eliminate much of the J-20’s endurance and range advantage. For the purposes of this discussion, we'll also presume that the new tanks can handle high-G maneuvers and that the air drag they add will be small enough so as to not take away the F-22’s ability to supercruise. If they don’t meet these criteria, much of their advantage is eliminated.
With all the above assumptions in place, we should get better than a 40 percent increase in range. This large increase in range and endurance means that the F-22 will be able to significantly increase the time in which it can supercruise. This is important, because on a typical mission, an F-22, after spotting the enemy, can climb to a much higher altitude and go supersonic prior to launching its missiles, significantly increasing their range. A fighter without supercruise can also execute this maneuver, but it will burn a lot more fuel and it can’t maintain supersonic speeds for nearly as long.
So, the ability to enter and exit a battle at supercruise is a significant advantage, and the longer a fighter can maintain supercruise, the more offensive and defensive flexibility it has. And a longer ability to supercruise should increase the F-22’s survivability. Bottom line, while supercruise isn’t a silver bullet, having it is a significant advantage, and having more fuel increases this advantage.
