Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 "Raptor" fighter jet, widely considered the world's most advanced, is set to streak through a milestone performance here on Monday for a U.S. warplane that unlike most others remains off limits for export.
The 60th Farnborough event will mark the radar-evading jet's debut at an overseas air show and is due to see it demonstrate a manoeuvre called a "tail-slide", in which the pilot shoots nearly straight up, then lets the sleek, 43,340-pound jet drop without stalling.
It is a display made possible by the thrust of dual engines built by Pratt & Whitney, part of United Technologies.
The single-seat aircraft is capable of twice the speed of sound.
Pilot Major Paul 'Max' Moga from the U.S. Air Force 27th Fighter Squadron is also scheduled to open the weapons-bay doors after pointing the aircraft's belly at spectators, showing where bombs and missiles would be stored.
Unlike most fighters, no weapons are carried externally on the Raptor, to make it harder to detect on radar screens.
Crossing the Atlantic to get here was itself a first for the aircraft, deployed last year to Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa, the hub of U.S. air power in the Pacific.
Japan, Israel and Australia have shown interest in buying the F-22 if the U.S. Congress were to lift the export ban enacted 10 years ago, partly to prevent the spread of U.S. technological knowhow and partly to avoid regional arms races.
Also of concern is protecting the market for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a family of radar-evading fighters being developed by the United States with eight other countries.
