One of those jets showed comparatively extreme signs of corrosion on the upper nose area, right before the canopy. In fact, the section was in such poor shape, that it offered a bizarre and fascinating view of what some of the F-22’s most prominent surface areas are made up of.
As you can see in the images, it’s not just that the surface is corroded, it appears that areas of the radar-absorbent material (RAM) beneath it has fallen away entirely. It almost looks like there are gaping holes in the jet’s upper nose, but that may not actually be the case. If you look closely, it seems like there may be a translucent coating in place over the area that creates a shell or sorts that laminates to the foam-like structure below. Still, the F-22’s nose looks somewhat hollow inside.
Even the AN/AAR-56 missile launch warning system aperture appears to be at least partially ‘floating’ on this shell-like arrangement. If these were holes and open to the air, one would think the section would quickly rip apart while the jet was underway and cause negative aerodynamic and buffeting effects, as well as other issues. Regardless, we are looking at truly amazing material and construction science that appears downright alien when compared to that of non-stealthy fighters.
Much of what makes up and lies beneath the F-22 Raptor’s silver skin remains a tightly guarded secret. The aircraft’s outer mold-line is a mosaic of radar-absorbent coatings and radar transparent and radar defeating composite structures that combine to allow the Raptor to remain aerodynamically efficient while also largely invisible to fire control radars. All this takes a lot of work to maintain and many of these applications start degrading shortly after they are applied, with friction from high-speed flight, crushing G forces, and the elements accelerating that process. As such, one of the costliest aspects of operating F-22s—and flying this aircraft is extremely expensive with an average flight hour cost of about $60k—is keeping its stealthy skin up to par. This also is a major contributor to its fairly abysmal mission capable rate of around 50 percent.
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