The F-22 is powered by two Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan engines, the world’s first operational fifth-generation engine in service.
The F-22 Raptor stealth multirole aircraft embed a lot of really advanced tech.Among these, its two powerful Pratt & Whitney F-119-PW-100 engines give the fifth fighter the ability to accelerate past the speed of sound without using the afterburners (the so-called supercruise) and TV (Thrust Vectoring), that can be extremely useful, in certain conditions, to put the Raptor in the proper position to score a kill.
The F119-PW-100 turbofan is the first operational fifth generation fighter engine, and the most advanced production engine combining stealth technologies and vectored thrust with high thrust-to-weight performance.
The engine supports the stunning aircraft super-maneuverability thanks to a unique two-dimensional pitch vectoring exhaust nozzle: the nozzle, managed and regulated by the Full-Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC), are used to vector the thrust 20 degrees up and down.Here’s how Pratt & Whitney describes the internal “architecture” of the engine:”the three-stage integrally bladed fan is powered by a single-stage low-pressure turbine. The engine’s counterrotating core has an aerodynamically efficient six-stage compressor driven by a single-stage high-pressure turbine featuring the latest single-crystal superalloy blades and advanced cooling technologies. The robust, yet compact, high-pressure compressor features the most advanced airfoil aerodynamics and integrally bladed rotor disks for ensured durability.”
The engine, capable to deliver thrust is excess of 35,000 lbf (160 kN), with a thrust-to-weight ration of 9, features advanced self-diagnostics capability that are particularly useful for maintenance and automatic logistics support purposes: something that was really important to make the deployment of the F-22 in the Middle East to support the air war on ISIS possible.
