Although the U.S. Air Force (USAF) had originally planned to buy a total of 750 ATFs to replace its F-15 Eagles, it later scaled down to 381, and the program was ultimately cut to 195 aircraft — 187 of them operational models — in 2009 due to political opposition from high costs, a perceived lack of air-to-air threats at the time of production, and the development of the more affordable and versatile F-35.

[3] Code-named "Senior Sky", the ATF would become an air superiority fighter program influenced by these threats; in the potential scenario of a Soviet and Warsaw Pact invasion in Central Europe, the ATF was envisaged to support the air-land battle by spearheading offensive and defensive counter-air operations (OCA/DCA) in this highly contested environment that would then enable following echelons of NATO strike and attack aircraft to perform air interdiction against ground formations; to do so, the ATF would make an ambitious leap in capability and survivability by taking advantage of the new technologies in fighter design on the horizon, including composite materials, lightweight alloys, advanced flight control systems and avionics, more powerful propulsion systems for supersonic cruise (or supercruise) around Mach 1.5, and stealth technology for low observability.

[18] Both designs met or exceeded all performance requirements; the YF-23 was considered stealthier and faster, but the YF-22, with its thrust vectoring nozzles, was more maneuverable as well as less expensive and risky, having flown considerably more test sorties and hours than its counterpart.

[N 9][33][34] The Raptor's designation was briefly changed to F/A-22 starting in September 2002, mimicking the Navy's F/A-18 Hornet and intended to highlight a planned ground-attack capability amid debate over the aircraft's role and relevance.

[37] Air vehicle testing resulted in several structural design modifications and retrofits for earlier lots, including tail fin strengthening to resolve buffeting in certain conditions.

Throughout development and production, the program was continually scrutinized for its costs and less expensive alternatives such as modernized F-15 or F-16 variants were being proposed, even though the USAF considered the F-22 to provide the greatest capability increase against peer adversaries for the investment.

[81][82] Throughout the 2000s when the U.S. was primarily fighting counterinsurgency wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the USAF's requirement for 381 F-22s was questioned over rising costs, initial reliability and availability problems, limited multirole versatility, and a lack of relevant adversaries for air combat missions.

In July 2008, General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated to the SASC his reasons for supporting the termination of F-22 production, including shifting resources to the multi-service F-35 and the electric warfare EA-18G Growler.

[90] Although Russian and Chinese fighter developments fueled concern for the USAF, Gates dismissed this and in 2010, he set the F-22 requirement to 187 aircraft by lowering the number of major regional conflict preparations from two to one, despite an effort by Wynne's and Moseley's successors Michael Donley and General Norton Schwartz to raise the number to 243; according to Schwartz, he and Donley finally relented in order to convince Gates to preserve the Long Range Strike Bomber program.

The long gap since the end of production meant hiring new workers, sourcing replacement vendors, and finding new plant space, contributing to the high start-up costs and lead times.

[107][103] The F-22 and its subsystems were designed to be upgraded over its life cycle via numbered Increments[N 13] and Operational Flight Program (OFP) updates in anticipation for technological advances and evolving threats, although this initially proved difficult and costly due to the highly integrated avionics systems architecture.

Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) employment was added with Increment 2 in 2005 and Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) was integrated with 3.1 in 2011; the improved AN/APG-77(V)1 radar, which incorporates air-to-ground modes, was certified in March 2007 and fitted on airframes from Lot 5 onward.

[118][119] Other developments include all-aspect IRST functionality for the Missile Launch Detector (MLD),[N 15] manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) capability with uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) or "loyal wingmen", and cockpit improvements.

[126][127] The fleet underwent a $350 million "structures repair/retrofit program" (SRP) to resolve problems identified during testing as well as address improper titanium heat treatment in the parts of early batches.

The fixed shoulder-mounted caret inlets are offset from the forward fuselage to divert the turbulent boundary layer and generate oblique shocks with the upper inboard corners to ensure good total pressure recovery and efficient supersonic flow compression.

[143] The F-22's high cruise speed and operating altitude over prior fighters improve the effectiveness of its sensors and weapon systems, and increase survivability against ground defenses such as surface-to-air missiles.

The use of internal weapons bays permits the aircraft to maintain comparatively higher performance over most other combat-configured fighters due to a lack of parasitic drag from external stores.

[N 18][150][151] The airplane's aerodynamics, relaxed stability, and powerful thrust-vectoring engines give it excellent maneuverability and energy potential across its flight envelope, capable of 9-g maneuvers at takeoff gross weight with full internal fuel.

[141] Its large control surfaces, vortex-generating chines and LERX, and vectoring nozzles provide excellent high alpha (angle of attack) characteristics, and is capable of flying at trimmed alpha of over 60° while maintaining roll control and performing maneuvers such as the Herbst maneuver (J-turn) and Pugachev's Cobra;[152] vortex impingement on the vertical tail fins did cause more buffeting than initially anticipated, resulting in the strengthening of the fin structure by changing the rear spar from composite to titanium.

Measures to reduce RCS include airframe shaping such as alignment of edges and continuous curvature of surfaces, internal carriage of weapons, fixed-geometry serpentine inlets and curved vanes that prevent line-of-sight of the engine fan faces and turbines from any exterior view, use of radar-absorbent material (RAM), and attention to detail such as hinges and pilot helmets that could provide a radar return.

[159][134] Compared to previous stealth designs, the F-22 is less reliant on RAM, which are maintenance-intensive and susceptible to adverse weather conditions, and can undergo repairs on the flight line or in a normal hangar without climate control.

[110][152] The ALR-94 electronic warfare system, among the most technically complex equipment on the F-22, integrates more than 30 antennas blended into the wings and fuselage for all-round radar warning receiver (RWR) coverage and threat geolocation.

The pilot garments were developed under the Advanced Technology Anti-G Suit (ATAGS) project and protect against chemical/biological hazards and cold-water immersion, counter g-forces and low pressure at high altitudes, and provide thermal relief.

[229][230] The F-22 CTF and 412th Aerospace Medicine Squadron eventually determined breathing restrictions as the root cause; coughing symptoms were attributed to acceleration atelectasis[N 22] from high g exposure and OBOGS delivering excessive oxygen concentration.

[235] This first overseas deployment was initially marred by problems when six F-22s flying from Hickam AFB, Hawaii, experienced multiple software-related system failures while crossing the International Date Line (180th meridian of longitude).

[244] On 22 September 2014, F-22s performed the type's first combat sorties by conducting some of the opening strikes of Operation Inherent Resolve, the American-led intervention in Syria; aircraft dropped 1,000-pound GPS-guided bombs on Islamic State targets near Tishrin Dam.

[247] Throughout their deployment, F-22s conducted close air support (CAS) and also deterred Syrian, Iranian, and Russian aircraft from attacking U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and disrupting U.S. operations in the region.

[260][261] On 4 February 2023, an F-22 of the 1st Fighter Wing shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon within visual range off the coast of South Carolina at an altitude of 60,000 to 65,000 feet (20,000 m),[262] marking the F-22's first air-to-air kill.

[279] The design went through several iterations and the later ones would combine an F-22 fuselage with greatly enlarged delta wings and was projected to carry up to 30 Small Diameter Bombs to over 1,600 nmi (3,000 km), about twice the combat range of the F-22A.

The design, which was later also proposed to the USAF, would combine a modified F-22 airframe with enlarged wings to increase fuel capacity and combat radius to 1,200 nmi (2,200 km) as well as the avionics and improved stealth coatings of the F-35.