In a sad illustration of air supremacy, one of the most frequently told and military legend-infused tales highlights the gulf between the United States Air Force’s advanced weaponry and Iran’s antiquated military resources. Ten years ago, an episode involving a U.S. MQ-1 Predator and a supporting pair of stealth F-22 Raptors highlighted this difference. Iranian F-4 Phantom II pilots, flying Vietnam War-era aircraft, tried to intercept the drone, with no knowledge of the Raptors until one of the F-22s made its presence known in a dramatic fashion.
The F-22, unseen, flew underneath the Iranian planes, evaluated its weaponry, and then popped up alongside it, making a blunt recommendation for the Iranian pilots to fly home. As earlier documented by The National Interest’s Eli Fuhrman, “The incident demonstrates the impressive stealth characteristics of the Raptor, which was able to approach the two Iranian fighters undetected and scout out their arsenals, before scaring them off.”
This dramatic meeting indicates the disparity between the U.S.’s fifth-generation fighter technology and that of Iran’s use of planes that were cutting-edge more than a half-century ago. Iran, having some skilled pilots, was not able to fill in the technological gap that differentiates a 21st-century wonder such as the F-22 from the old Phantoms, frequently beset by poor maneuverability and extensive blind spots—disadvantages in dogfighting.
Iran still flies F-4 Phantoms because of a combination of sanctions and historical dependence on U.S.-supplied equipment prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Despite efforts at homegrown parts to keep its aging air force in the skies through innovations and domestic production, Tehran’s air power severely lags when compared to today’s air forces. A Defense Intelligence Agency report emphasizes the main attack aircraft of the Iranian Air Force, the F-4, and its susceptibility to modern air defenses, even though it plays a significant role in Iran’s strategic posture.
The United States, though possessing a relatively small number of operational F-22s because production stopped in 2011, has a qualitative advantage in air-to-air combat. None of the new F-22s will fill the skies; still, the current fleet of 186 Raptors is a symbol of air superiority dreams projected upon their development in the late 20th century. They were meant to dominate air battles, with stealth, sensor fusion, and sophisticated weaponry that guarantee a “first kill opportunity” against the enemy.
The end of F-22 production came under fire, as early plans were to have a large fleet of 750 Raptors. “Now the United States faces concerns about its dwindling fleet of F-22 Raptors that were once intended to replace the F-15 outright,” Alex Hollings wrote for Business Insider. “Only around 130 of those 186 delivered F-22s were ever operational, and today the number of combat-ready F-22s is likely in the double digits.”
But the realignment of U.S. military priorities towards counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, coupled with the high expense of re-commencing production, resulted in a smaller fleet. The Air Force subsequently redirected attention to developing the sixth-generation Next Generation Air Domi
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