14 Years After the Last One Was Delivered, the US Air Force F-22 Raptor Is Still the Best Air Superiority Fighter Ever Built

14 Years After the Last One Was Delivered, the US Air Force F-22 Raptor Is Still the Best Air Superiority Fighter Ever Built

Summary and Key Points: The last F-22 Raptor left Marietta on May 2, 2012, and nothing since has matched the combination: supercruise near Mach 1.8 without afterburner, thrust vectoring, and stealth married to sensor fusion. -The J-20 chases the standard, the Su-57 barely exists, the F-35 was built for a different fight — and the Air Force is answering the question with its budget, pouring billions into stealthy tanks, infrared hunting pods, and…