F-22 Upgrade Set For Later This Year -- Military Times
The F-22 Raptor is a work in progress.
The Air Force is pushing hard to upgrade the planes to Increment 3.1, a hardware and software upgrade scheduled to be operational later this year.
Increment 3.1 will:
•Add synthetic aperture radar.
•Add the ability to drop Small Diameter Bombs.
•Add electronic attack capabilities.
The operational test force has been putting Increment 3.1 through its paces at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., since November.
But even once Increment 3.1 is installed, the F-22 still will only be able to designate two targets in total for its eight SDBs. And the upgrade will not resolve the Raptor’s basic inability to connect with other aircraft.
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