Why The US Military Picked This Aircraft To Shoot Down The Chinese Balloon, UFOs – SlashGear

As mundane as it may sound, the spy balloon was actually the first air-to-air “kill” by the F-22 since it joined the Air Force arsenal in 2005. The F-22 is called a fifth generation fighter jet by its manufacturer Lockheed Martin and considered one of the best fighter planes to ever exist. The Raptor is also a stealth aircraft. That doesn’t mean it’s invisible, however. You will absolutely hear one fly over, if it’s close enough. But the F-22’s shape and its material make it capable of slipping through radar and staying undetected. 

Its exact speed is classified, but according to released specifications from the Air Force, the Raptor can go over Mach 2 (1,482 miles per hour). As for its munitions, the Raptor has access to a 20-millimeter cannon, two of the aforementioned Sidewinder missiles, and six more AIM-120 missiles. It is unequivocally one of the most capable aircraft in the world today, and the Air Force has 183 of them. 

The F-22’s specific role as dictated by the Air Force is what’s called an “air dominance” fighter and its sole purpose is to have complete control in the skies above the above the United States. If anything shows up to challenge that, in this case a Chinese surveillance balloon or a UFO, the F-22 is there to stop it.