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By 2021, there was talk from a former Air Force chief of staff about the F-22 being completely retired by the decade’s end.
These jets are no slouches in speed, reaching up to 1,500 mph—2.2 times faster than the speed of sound—and consuming about 5,000 pounds of fuel each hour.
Despite the futuristic appearance, the jet isn’t equipped with an actual ‘cloaking device’.
In the footage captured by Fingar, you can see one of these jets briefly obscured by a vapor cone, making it almost invisible to the naked eye.
“Mark Fingar captured an F-22 Raptor activating its cloaking device.”
“It’s how they play peekaboo in the clouds,” another user humorously commented.
This happens because when the localized air pressure around an object like the F-22 drops, so does the temperature.
If the temperature falls below the saturation temperature—the critical point at which a liquid turns into vapor—a cloud forms.
Rod Irvine, chairman of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s aerodynamics group, clarified to the BBC:
Irvine further explained, “The aircraft isn’t necessarily travelling faster than the speed of sound, but the air travelling over the wing is accelerated and locally breaks the sound barrier.”
While the science behind it is fascinating, the visual effect is undeniably cool.
