F-22 Raptor Fighter Breaks Sound Barrier at Edwards

The Air Force’s sleek new fighter plane, the F-22 Raptor, has broken the sound barrier for the first time, flying over Edwards AFB just four days before the 51st anniversary of the day the sound barrier was first conquered over the same base.

“From all indications, the Raptor flew past the sound barrier with ease,” said Lt. Col. C.D. Moore, commander of the F-22 Combined Test Force. “This is just one step of many for the program.”

Lockheed Martin test pilot John Beesley was flying the first Raptor produced when it reached 1.1 Mach at 3:25 p.m. Saturday at 29,000 feet during a nearly three-hour test flight.

Wednesday will mark 51 years since Chuck Yeager first flew faster than sound in the Bell X1 over Edwards on Oct. 14, 1947.

A second Raptor also is at the base, where both are undergoing extensive tests to assess performance.

Officials said the flight moved the Raptor a step closer to demonstrating its revolutionary ability to “super cruise”--fly at supersonic speeds for extended periods without the use of afterburners--which are expensive to operate because they inject additional fuel into hot exhaust gasses.

In addition to the super-cruise ability, the fighter also combines the latest technology in stealth and advanced avionics that officials said will give pilots “a first-look, first-shot, first-kill capability against aircraft of a potential enemy.”

The first Raptors are scheduled for delivery in 2002, eventually replacing the F-15 Eagle as America’s front-line air superiority fighter.

The Air Force is scheduled to get 339 of the planes at a cost of $43 billion over the next 15 years.