F-35 vs F-22: How America’s Two Stealth Fighters Differ

The F-22 is an air-superiority fighter, while the F-35 is a multirole strike fighter that trades top-end performance for sensors, range and numbers.

The F-22 first flew on September 7, 1997, and was designed to find and shoot down enemy fighters before they could see it. It has two engines, thrust-vectoring nozzles and can cruise faster than sound without afterburner. It can drop bombs, but that was never its main purpose.

The F-35 came out of the later Joint Strike Fighter program as a more affordable stealth jet for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allies, in three versions: the conventional F-35A, the short-takeoff F-35B and the carrier-based F-35C. Its strength is the way it fuses radar, infrared and electronic-warfare data into one picture for the pilot and shares it with other aircraft.

The biggest practical difference is that one is still being built and the other is not. Lockheed delivered the last of 195 F-22s, including eight test aircraft, on May 2, 2012, after Defense Secretary Robert Gates capped the buy at 187 production jets in 2009. The Air Force had originally planned to buy 750.

The F-22 is faster: the Air Force describes it as a Mach 2 class fighter that can supercruise above Mach 1.5 without afterburner, while the F-35A’s top speed is Mach 1.6.

The F-22’s figures come from the U.S. Air Force F-22 fact sheet. The F-35A’s come from Lockheed Martin’s F-35A product card. Supercruise lets the F-22 stay supersonic without the fuel burn of an afterburner and gives its missiles extra energy at launch.

The F-22 has two Pratt & Whitney F119 engines. The F-35A has a single Pratt & Whitney F135, rated by Lockheed at 40,000 pounds of thrust with afterburner and 25,000 pounds without it.

On range, the F-35A has the clearer published figures: a combat radius of more than 590 nautical miles, about 1,093 kilometers, and a range of more than 1,200 nautical miles on internal fuel. The Air Force gives the F-22 a ferry range of more than 1,850 miles, but with two external fuel tanks, so the two numbers do not measure the same thing.

The F-22 is the bigger jet and carries more air-to-air missiles inside its bays, while the F-35 carries a heavier total load and more varied weapons.

The F-22 is 62 feet 1 inch long with a wingspan of 44 feet 6 inches, according to the Air Force. The F-35A is 51.4 feet long with a 35-foot wingspan, according to Lockheed Martin.

Both jets hide their weapons internally to stay stealthy. In its air-to-air configuration the F-22 carries six AIM-120 AMRAAM radar-guided missiles and two AIM-9 Sidewinders, plus a 20-millimeter M61A2 cannon. For ground attack it swaps four of the AMRAAMs for two 1,000-pound GBU-32 guided bombs. The F-35A usually carries four weapons internally, such as two AIM-120s and two bombs, and Lockheed gives its total weapons payload, inside and under the wings, as 18,000 pounds.

Neither the Air Force nor Lockheed publishes a radar cross-section figure for either aircraft, so claims about which one is harder to detect are unofficial estimates. Both were designed as very low observable aircraft from the start, with coatings that need constant care. Lockheed says about half of F-22 maintenance involves repairing that coating.

An F-22 cost far more than an F-35: about $369.5 million per jet once development is included, against about $92 million for a new F-35A today.

The F-22 program cost about $67.3 billion in then-year dollars for its whole buy, according to the last Selected Acquisition Report of December 31, 2010, as summarized by the Congressional Research Service and 19FortyFive. The Air Force’s own unit-cost figure of $143 million leaves out that development bill.

The F-35A costs $92.0 million in production Lots 18 and 19, the F-35B $121.4 million and the F-35C $110.8 million, as our guide to F-35 prices explains.

The F-22 is also dearer to fly. A King’s College London analysis of Congressional Budget Office data puts it at about $80,000 per flight hour, against about $47,000 for the F-35A, in 2023 dollars.

The U.S. Air Force is the only F-22 operator, with 184 jets, while the F-35 is flown or on order across 20 countries in Lockheed’s program, including the United States.

Of the 184 F-22s, 32 are older Block 20 jets used mainly for training. The Air Force has tried to retire them, but current law bars it from retiring any F-22 or going below 184 aircraft until September 30, 2027. A House amendment would extend that ban to September 30, 2032, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported; it is not yet law. Congress has also barred any sale of the F-22 to a foreign government since 1998, which is why Japan and Israel, both interested at the time, never got it.

For the F-35, Lockheed’s F-35 fast facts for October 2026 count more than 1,375 aircraft delivered and more than 1 million flight hours. Program partners and buyers include the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Poland and Germany, and Israel flies its own F-35I Adir, as our guide to Israel’s F-35 fleet details.

Yes. Both have flown combat missions, and they have fought side by side in different roles.

The F-22 flew its first combat missions in September 2014, striking Islamic State targets in Syria. Its first air-to-air kill came on February 4, 2023, when an F-22 fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder at the Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina, Pentagon officials said.

The clearest example of the two working together was Operation Midnight Hammer on June 22, 2025. F-35As of the 388th Fighter Wing were the first U.S. aircraft into Iranian airspace, hunting surface-to-air missile sites, while F-22s provided air superiority over the targets as B-2 bombers struck Iran’s nuclear sites, according to an Air Force account reported by The Aviationist. Seven of the F-22 pilots later received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Israel has flown the F-35 in combat since 2018.

For winning a fight against other fighters, the F-22 is the stronger aircraft; for almost every other mission, and for the Air Force’s future, the F-35 matters more.

The F-22’s speed, agility and six internal AMRAAMs make it the Air Force’s premier air-to-air fighter. But it cannot be exported, is no longer built and costs more to fly. The F-35 does more jobs, costs less to buy and run, and is in full production.

The Air Force’s plans reflect that split. It is buying the Boeing F-47 to replace the F-22 in roughly equal numbers, while the F-35 is expected to make up about 40 percent of the 1,509 fighters the service says it needs by 2035. The F-22 is also being paired with drone wingmen: an F-22 pilot has already directed a YFQ-44A Fury drone in flight.

The U.S. Air Force has 184 F-22s, its only operator, as of June 2026.

Lockheed Martin built 195 F-22s, including eight test jets, and delivered the last one on May 2, 2012.

More than 1,375 F-35s had been delivered by October 2026, according to Lockheed Martin.

The F-22 is a Mach 2 class fighter that supercruises above Mach 1.5; the F-35A reaches Mach 1.6.

The F-22’s program acquisition cost was about $369.5 million per jet in the December 2010 Selected Acquisition Report; an F-35A costs $92.0 million in Lots 18 and 19.

The F-22 carries six AIM-120 and two AIM-9 missiles internally in its air-to-air configuration.

U.S. law bars F-22 retirements until September 30, 2027, and any sale of the jet abroad; the Boeing F-47 is planned as its replacement.