IRIS has released their much anticipated production of the Lockheed Martin F22 Raptor. The Raptor is a new generation "stealth" fighter capable of incredible speed and manoeuvrability, although most of its capabilities remain unknown and closely protected by the United States as the sole operator of this aircraft. Because of the secrecy surrounding the actual performance of the real aircraft, IRIS designers have had to use a degree of "poetic licence" to come up with a flight model that is advanced enough to represent the handling abilities of the real aircraft but also realistic enough to be believable. Complicating matters is the thrust vectoring system built in to the real aircraft which enables it to be incredibly agile throughout a wide flight envelope.
For this reason, the IRIS Raptor has to be assessed with a degree of leniency. Not only because of a distinct lack of source reference material, but also because of limitations in FSX simulation ability. Whilst accurate thrust vectoring may have been achievable, the conventional flight model would have suffered, and vice versa.
IRIS Simulations are an Australian company, who have earned themselves a reputation of producing high quality add-on aircraft for FSX. Despite recent troubles with the loss of their web site, the IRIS team kept loyal followers up to date with the progress of the Raptor via their Facebook page. Through these updates, followers were given a front-row seat to see the development of the product via the occasional screen shot or video, as well as regular updates via text. Watching these updates I got a unique sense of the stresses that developers of high quality add-on products face from trying to meet deadlines, to giving their customers all the "bells and whistles" that we demand whilst working within the confines of what the FSX program allows.
|
Product Analysis |
|
|
Download from Pilot Shop |
Yes |
|
Cost (USD) |
$48 |
|
File Size |
119 Mb |
|
Auto-Installer Application |
Yes |
|
Protected by Licence Key |
No |
|
Operating Manual |
Yes |
|
Checklist/Reference Material |
No |
|
Uninstall Application |
No |
This aircraft is only available for FSX. Purchase and installation from the Pilot Shop are very easy. The installation program installs all files in to the relevant folders within FSX, and the aircraft is ready to fly without further effort required from the user.
There are very few aircraft in the world, real our simulated, that have the performance capability of the Raptor. A comparison of real-world performance data (where available) and IRIS aircraft data is included below.
|
REAL AIRCRAFT DATA |
VIRTUAL AIRCRAFT DATA |
||
|
Empty weight |
19,700 kg |
Empty weight |
19,658 kg |
|
Maximum take-off weight |
38,000 kg |
Maximum take-off weight |
37,875 kg |
|
Maximum speed |
Mach 2.25 |
Maximum speed |
805 KIAS Mach 1.28 |
|
Stall speed (clean) |
unknown |
Stall speed (clean) |
100 |
|
Stall speed (landing config) |
unknown |
Stall speed (landing config) |
95 |
|
Range (2x aux tanks) |
1,600 NM |
Range |
1,600 NM |
|
Ceiling |
65,000 feet |
Ceiling |
65,000 |
|
Climb rate |
unknown |
Climb rate |
25,000 fpm |
Obviously it is difficult to assess the realism of the IRIS F22 Raptor flight model against the real thing. The reference material that I was able to source did verify that most of the weights and performance characteristics of the IRIS product were comparable.
|
|
This product comes with all the "bells and whistles" that we have come to expect from the IRIS "Platinum Edition" add-ons, like the A-10 Warthog before it. The Raptor is incredibly agile in the air, and many of the functions that pilots need to perform are controlled by the Integrated Control Panel (ICP) situated front and center immediately below the HUD. It is via the ICP that a handy quick start option can be accessed for those who do not wish to go through the convoluted start process step by step. There are still a couple of steps to go through for the quick start system to work, but they are pretty straight forward and easy to remember. Once started, the engines are very responsive to throttle movement and deliver an enormous amount of thrust when the afterburners are lit!
For general flight, pilots are best advised to be smooth with any control input. The aircraft rolls incredibly quickly and coarse control inputs can be risky particularly when close to the ground. The rudders seem to be generally ineffective, producing only small amounts of yaw, so crosswind operations come with a certain degree of risk.
The aircraft responds well in the pitch axis and, with the incredible power provided by the engines, "high alpha" manoeuvres are easily achieved.
All the usual features are included on the Raptor such as animated control surfaces, canopy and pilot figure. When the canopy is open and park brakes are set, a crew ladder appears on the side of the aircraft. Weapons bay and refuelling doors are also animated. Instructions are included in the manual to allow you to set up the aircraft with droppable ordnance. This process is a bit of a pain and would have been better achieved with an additional weapons/fuel panel to configure the aircraft when on the ground, but once set up you will find an on-screen window that shows how many bombs you have left. Just to complicate matters, the ordnance is not visible in the weapons bays unless you alter the internal bay weight via the default FSX menu options to reflect a 5,000 pound payload.
|
|
One of the really cool features of this aircraft is the radio chatter that can be turned on or off via the various radio controls in the cockpit. There are separate controls for radio chatter including a ground strike mission, "Bitchin' Betty", aerial refuelling and various music tracks intended to reflect the various flight profiles at any given time. This last option is somewhat of a gimmick and whilst some pilots may think it is a bit of fun, I find it distracting so leave it off. On the subject of aerial refuelling, IRIS has built in the ability for this aircraft to refuel in the air if certain parameters are met. These are explained in the manual, and it is a good idea albeit a very simple one. Perhaps in the future we may see further development to the point where an AI tanker appears so virtual pilots can test their skills by holding station to take on fuel.
The Pilot Manual runs to 55 pages in PDF format and is well laid out and easy to understand.
Technical support is available through the IRIS Facebook page at this time, or the forums located on the IRIS web site. The developer responded extremely quickly to my inquiries, although I am in the same time zone. Purchasers should be mindful that the developers are located in Australia, and make allowances for time zone differences for any delay in responding to requests for support. I found them courteous and helpful.
Please note, I am not associated with product designer, and do not offer technical support for their products. Any emails to me for assistance will be politely returned referring you to the designer in the first instance.
AWESOME! There are very few negative things I have to say about the IRIS Raptor. There were some issues with the initial release, which were identified and fixed quickly by IRIS with the release of a patch. If I had to be picky, a few minor spelling errors in the Pilot Manual detract from the overall professionalism of the product, but on the whole the F22 Raptor is an incredible achievement for the IRIS team. At $48, it is at the high end of cost for add-on aircraft but the amount of work that has gone in to this bird and the result that has been achieved does, in my opinion, justify this price. I am very happy with the performance of this aircraft, and will be keeping it fuelled and on "Alert 5" status in my virtual hangar for quite some time!
FSX Acceleration & DX9
AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.4 GHz
2 GB RAM
Saitek X52 stick & throttle
http://www.f22fighter.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor
Scott Woodford
welly616@gmail.com
Learn More Here
More Iris Product Reviews:
Premium Series BD-5
Daimond DA-42 Twin Star
Pro Series Diamond Star XLS
Pro Series Christen Eagle