F-22 Raptor Pilots: What It Takes To Fly America’s Top Stealth Fighter

It can take 15 or 16 months before a US Air Force pilot is even considered to fly the service's premier air superiority platform, the F-22 Raptor. As the world's first fifth-generation fighter, the angular stealth jet was designed to be built by the Skunk Works division of Lockheed Martin to defeat the deadliest warplanes in the Soviet Union. With a fleet size of less than 200 airframes, becoming a Raptor pilot is one of the most competitive selection processes in the US armed forces and global aviation.