Flight testing of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft has resumed with the flight on 8 April of the second development aircraft following three months of modifications and ground testing. The aircraft has been retrofitted with new brakes, fuel pumps and probes, and horizontal tail actuators, and fitted with a spin-recovery parachute for high angle-of-attack testing. Over the next eight months, the first two F-22s are due to demonstrate a speed of more than Mach 1.8 and supercruise in excess of M1.5, as well as post-stall manoeuvring with thrust vectoring.
Source: Flight International
