The F-22 Raptor, made by aviation giant Lockheed Martin is the world's first 5th generation fighter jet, and is exclusively built for the United States Air Force. The F-22 is also among one of the most expensive fighter jets projects ever, along side the F-35 Lightning. However, unlike the F-22, the F-35 is offered to other NATO nations and is widely used by countries like Japan, Turkey among others. The Raptor is known for its dogfighting capabilities, beyond-visual-range (BVR) combat, and stealthy design. On February 4, 2023, a United States Air Force F-22 fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.


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Interestingly, this is the first-ever kill shot of the F-22 over the US Soil, or anywhere else. This has generated a lot of memes on the internet, with experts calling the first kill shot of the multi-billion dollar F-22 project worthless. The reason for F-22 not being engaged into any enemy kill is due to the fact that F-22 doesn't take part in any out-of-the-US military activity. On the other hand, there has been no intrusion of any enemy aircraft over the United States in years.


While multiple fighter jets and refuelling aircraft of the US Military were involved in the mission to take down the Chinese Spy Balloon that entered the US Airspace over a week ago, only the F-22 Raptor fighter jet was involved in the kill shot. The fighter flew from the Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and took the shot at the suspected Chinese Spy Balloon using a single AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile.



"They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it," US President Joe Biden said. Biden said that he had issued an order on Wednesday to take down the balloon, but the Pentagon had recommended waiting until it could be done over open water to safeguard civilians from debris crashing to Earth from thousands of feet (meters) above commercial air traffic.


The balloon, which was estimated to be about the size of three school buses, was shot down about six nautical miles off the US coast, over relatively shallow water, potentially aiding efforts to recover elements of the Chinese surveillance equipment in the coming days, officials said.


(With agency inputs)