On 17 June 2005, C4ISR Journal reported:
Touted as the world’s next-generation stealthy jet fighters and attack aircraft, the F/A-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will gather battlefield information as well.
The sensor suites on the two planes will turn them into information sponges, promising useful performance as fast-moving intelligence-gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms with the datalinks to send real time data to ground troops.
Like the Raptor’s and JSF’s active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars, the fighters’ other ISR sensors are incorporated into the plane, the wiring laced throughout their wings and body. This helps keep the aircraft stealthy.
“What the F/A-22 offers that no other fighter aircraft has is a huge amount of processing power linked to an airframe designed for an embedded antenna,” said Loren Thompson, vice president of the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Va., think tank. (more)
Source: Michael Fabey, "Supersonic SIGINT is back," C4ISR Journal (17 June 2005).