I suggest you reconsider that belief. While technically speaking, that is true, in the real world, it not always the case.
Technically speaking, the F-22 Raptor’s top speed of Mach 2.2 is slightly lower than the Phantom’s 2.23, but in practical application, those figures really don’t much matter.
www.19fortyfive.com
In 2013, an Iranian fighter pilot was closing with an American
drone in international airspace when he was shocked to find a stealthy American F-22 Raptor flying right alongside him.
Let us assume that story is true, for now.
Ground Control Intercept (GCI).
en.wikipedia.org
GCI is nothing new. Essentially, a powerful ground based radar watches the sky, then vectors interceptors towards any unidentified flyers. Going back to the Battle of Britain when British ground based radars, primitive as they were, directed RAF interceptors towards German bombers.
An AWACS is the companion concept of GCI except the AWACS is airborne, but the idea is still the same, a central monitor/controller.
In the event where the US F-22s met Iranian F-4s, Iranian GCI detected the US drone and called in the F-4 interceptors. The US drone was in international airspace. Whether Iranian F-4s were also in international airspace is irrelevant, suffice that they flew alongside the US drone.
Then when the F-22s came, Iranian GCI radars had 5 bodies in its radar beam but displayed only 3. If the American pilots were telling the truth, that they were close enough to the Iranian F-4s to check out their external armaments, there were 5 bodies in the Iranian GCI radar.
But the Iranian GCI radar displayed only 3 bodies: the American drone and the two Iranian F-4s.
That means the GCI radar was looking at all 5 bodies in their side aspect angle, larger than front and rear. Only top/bottom aspects are largest. And yet, the Iranian F-4 pilots were
NOT alerted to the American presence. We can also be confident that the F-22's radar warning receiver were informing the F-22 pilots of Iranian radar scanning, but they approached the Iranian F-4s nevertheless.
There is a radar phenomenon call 'resolution cell'...
Basically, if two or more bodies are in close enough proximity to each other, they
WILL, not 'may' or 'could', appear as one. This phenomenon depends on the technology of seeking radar.
www.sciencedirect.com
A resolution cell is defined as the smallest unit in radar imaging within which two targets cannot be distinguished unless they have different Doppler shifts. It is determined by the pulse duration, aperture angle, and beam width, affecting the radar station's interference immunity.
This is why 'stealth' is such a threat. Just because there could be an opportunistic 'blip', as how you put it, that does not mean you can display. That cannot be a single 'blip' but a series of 'blips' of similar amplitude (first) and signal characteristics (second).
The F-22s' side aspect angle 'blips' were so small in amplitude that they essentially electromagnetically blended in with the F-4s' signals. The process is called 'destructive interference'.
Again, assuming this story is true. But then again, we do not care if no one believes US. Confirmation can be from only one source: a real fight.
Good luck with that.
