The F-22 Raptor Facts: 30 Things to Know

F-22 Facts – It Has Upgraded HOBS Sidewinder Missiles

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An AIM-9 Sidewinder missile begins its early separation from an F/A-22 Raptor during a launch. The major milestone test evaluated the next-generation fighter's ability to fire an air-to-air missile from an internal weapons bay.

The F-22 has undergone a number of upgrades throughout its existence and one very important advance was announced recently. The latest upgrade enables the F-22 Raptor to utilize the AIM-9X Sidewinder high off bore-sight (HOBS), giving it a huge increase in visual range dogfight with an enemy fighter. Interestingly, the F-15 and F-16 have been stocked with this new HOBS Sidewinder for some time, however integrating it into the F-22 proved to be quite tricky. Due to the Raptor’s complicated avionics, updating the missile became a long and difficult puzzle for F-22 engineers. It’s finally been accomplished but there are still some kinks to work out which should be completed under the next upgrade: Increment 3.2B Hardware Upgrade. One of those kinks is that the software still displays the symbology for the old missile, forcing the pilot to make judgement calls to make up the difference.