Fighter Aircraft Combat Statistics / F-22 Raptor
Combat record
F-22 Raptor — Combat Record
5th-generation jet · United States · First flight 1997 · Combat-proven: strikes only
Photo: US Air Force from USA / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
0Confirmed air-to-air kills
0Air-to-air losses
—No air-to-air engagements
1997First flight
The story behind the numbers
The Raptor has never fought another aircraft — because nothing has ever chosen to fight it. Exercises routinely end with Raptor kill ratios in the dozens to zero, and its mere deployment reroutes hostile air activity; Syrian aircraft in 2014–18 broke off when Raptors illuminated them.
Its only air-to-air engagements have been surreal: a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic in 2023 — the highest-altitude kill in history — and Iranian drones. The F-22’s combat record in strikes over Syria is real but modest; its air-to-air record is a perfect deterrence paradox, the fighter so dominant it never gets to prove it.
On 4 February 2023 an F-22 destroyed a Chinese spy balloon with a single AIM-9X — the type’s first air-to-air weapon employment.
Campaign by campaign
| Years | Campaign | Operator | Victories | A2A losses | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | N. American airspace | USAF | 0 | 0 | Downed a Chinese surveillance balloon and three unidentified objects with AIM-9X — no aircraft. |
How we count. Victories are credits recognised by the operating air force, cross-checked against opposing loss records where they exist. Where wartime credits and postwar research genuinely disagree we show the range, not a single number. Friendly-fire and accident losses are not counted as air-to-air losses. Full methodology on the statistics hub.
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