While one UPT graduate became the first assigned directly to a Predator, the first class of pilot training students assigned directly to Raptors (after a short detour in F-16s) has graduated from the F-22 basic course.

Like the much cheaper and rugged A-10, there are no 2-seat F-22s; unlike the $30 million F-16, when new pilots climb into the $140 million Raptor for the first time, they do so solo.