The US Air Force F-22 Raptor Has a Combat Range of About 590 Nautical Miles. China’s J-20 Is Estimated at Around 1,100. New Stealth Fuel Tanks Take the Raptor to 850.

The US Air Force F-22 Raptor Has a Combat Range of About 590 Nautical Miles. China’s J-20 Is Estimated at Around 1,100. New Stealth Fuel Tanks Take the Raptor to 850.

New photographs show the Raptor carrying shaped external fuel tanks and two sensor pods — one apparently housing infrared search and track, the capability the aircraft was meant to have from the start and lost to budget cuts after 1991. The tanks are contoured and the pylons blended into the airframe to avoid radar returns, and Lockheed says they can be carried into combat rather than jettisoned on the way.