Stealthy Raptor Poses Unique Weapons Eval Problem:

A new data collection system allows Air Force engineers to track missile cues on the F-22A Raptor’s internal missile stations. Previously, data couldn’t be recorded from air-to-air missiles to the ground receiving site while the missile was still in the bay due to the stealth capabilities of the jet, according to Doug Ayers, the lead Raytheon missile systems engineer for the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group at Eglin AFB, Fla. The Raptor’s internal AIM-120C missile stations were hiding critical target information for the missile during its launch cycle. To solve the problem, Raytheon engineers developed a “flight case recorder” that records the launch information on a small digital card. Two flight case recorders have since flown on seven different flights, successfully collecting the missile launch data.