Quote Originally Posted by carl View Post
I would be interested if somebody would comment on the range of each of the airplanes and how they would affect ops, especially in the Pacific. I have read that all the F-18 variants are short legged and also that one of the reasons the Japanese wanted the F-22 was they needed a long range airplane. What kind of range does the F-35A and C have?

I am interested in what you guys know and I ask because I haven't seen that mentioned yet.
Carl-

I won't talk specifics to avoid getting classified, but I can point out the publicly advertised numbers:

The F-35 and F-16 have comparable combat radius:

F-35 vs F-16 Combat Radius Comparison

F-22 is very similar :

F-22 Combat Radius
(note this article says FB-22 would have a combat radius of 1800nm, about 3x F-22)

F-15E has a longer combat radius due to CFTs:

Eagle Combat Radius

F-18 is slightly shorter due to less gas, and being heavier to land on boats: F-18 Combat Radius

Combat radius is the best "range" number to compare - since it compares combat performance. Just "range" means just taking off and flying a given distance- but doesn't include any actual employment or fighting.

Basically, a given amount of gas will get you only so far. The specific energy of JP-8 is still the same- and the motors are not that much more efficient one way or another (only marginal effects). You would think more fuel = more range, but you know have to carry that fuel- potentially more parasite or form drag from external tanks or a larger aircraft, plus more induced drag from having to lift more weight. This is why the F-15C and F-15E have (fairly) comparable ranges and combat radii, since the F-15E has more drag even though it carries more fuel.

The F-22 (and to a lesser extent the F-15) have a slight advantage in that they can fly at higher altitudes than the other jets due to their design - in general jet engines get better fuel efficiency at higher altitudes.

The F-22 also has the ability to go supersonic without using afterburner (supercruise) which gives it a greater radius of action- the ability to accelerate quickly and travel at high speed without massively increasing fuel consumption means that it can get to where it needs to be quicker and cover a larger area than other fighters.

Hope this helps.

V/R,

Cliff