TYLER ROGOWAY
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This new tank arrangement is called the
Low Drag Tank and Pylon (LDTP). The budget entry about it reads:
The F-22 Low Drag Tank and Pylon (LDTP) capability is critical to maintaining Air Superiority in the joint fight and combating emerging threats. Due to the advancement of adversary technologies in detection and emergence of fighter, cargo, and refueling platforms increasing engagement ranges, it is critical to future mission execution and success to provide the Raptor with an increased range capability while maintaining own-ship survivability.
The F-22 LDTPs are advanced technological designs providing increased persistence and range while maintaining lethality and survivability. The low drag tanks are intended to
reduce drag, facilitate supersonic flight with external tanks and extend the range of the F-22.
The pylons are equipped with
smart rack pneumatic technology to accurately control ejection performance and smooth wind swept surface for minimum drag without store. LDTP risk reduction activities are captured under the Advanced Technology Development (ATD) major thrust. Documentation of the development and integration components as part of the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Development (EMD) program will be captured under the LDTP major thrust.
As we noted in our recent piece about the F-22's looming upgrades and the type's new close relationship to the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, the addition of these new tanks and pylons makes perfect sense:
This low-drag tanks and pylons initiative is quite interesting as it is also part of the ATD, which also is connected to the NGAD technologies test and integration arrangement. The F-22 has flown operationally with 600-gallon fuel tanks for years, as well as pylons that can be jettisoned with them. Part of the F-22 program developed this system. While losing the tanks and pylons in flight would still leave the F-22 with a degraded radar cross-section — the connection points and plumbing would still be partially exposed — it would make the jet much harder to spot on radar compared to having the tanks or even just the pylons still be attached. This new initiative looks to integrate a
more efficient tank design and a pylon that leads to very little, if any, radar cross-section disruption compared to a
'clean' F-22 once the tanks and pylons are jettisoned.
The F-22's range has always been its biggest weakness and external tanks would be a critical component for executing combat operations over great distances of the Pacific against a major opponent — China. Getting the F-22 more aerodynamically efficient tanks with pylons that can be jettisoned without significantly disrupting the jet's radar-evading capabilities would be a major advantage and would help keep the F-22 relevant. This technology would also likely be spiraled into NGAD platforms, namely the manned aircraft, that is being designed to fight more independently of refueling assets over much larger distances.
Finally, we have a
missile to look at unlike any in the inventory. We have
no idea if this represents the AIM-260, the shadowy long-range air-to-air missile that will fit in the same general space that an AIM-120 AMRAAM can fit into, which is slated to enter service next year. If so, this would be our first look at the missile's configuration. There are a number of other missile programs ongoing that could account for it as well, including smaller hit-to-kill types, and even a modular medium-range missile concept that is now being explored by the Air Force, among others.
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