So why is the Raptor under consideration for the chopping block?

Because it’s really expensive and it isn’t clear who we’d shoot with it. We already have air-superiority with F15 and F16. F22 and particularly F35 are staggeringly expensive which will force us to buy fewer of them. Given that we haven’t ever lost an F15 engagement to anybody, why should we be putting the others into production?

IMO, buying defense technology you don’t need is equally as egregious as buying STD education you don’t need. If we’re going to “stimulate” anything, let’s make sure we really need what we’re buying anyway. If that’s the case, I have no problem, but I don’t know that the F22 is it. Whack the project and then buy lots of F16s, IMO.

Lets retry without the ss!
Hey a$$hat, you are a waste of carbon. The fantasy world you perceive exists only in your damaged brain. Maybe after years of therapy and use of miracle drugs you will understand the nature of the tangible world and the very real adversaries

Hey asshat, you are a waste of carbon. The fanatasy world you preceive exists only in your damaged brain. Maybe after years of therapy and use of miracle drugs you will understand the nature of the tangable world and the very real adversaries we face.

They’re so “overwhelmngly” in favor of it they’re jamming Capitol Hill phone lines to say how awesome it is. The number is (202) 224-3121 if you want to jam the lines further. You could dial them up directly, but their……

Long live the B52!

Brian1972 on February 5, 2009 at 1:07 PM

You forgot about DDG-1000!

Obama has proven that government spending is of no concern to us anymore. Deficit, what deficit?

So instead of this OR that, let’s do this, this AND that, AND that too!

Super Hornet, Raptor, Lightening II, Osprey, KCX tanker, Airborne Laser, + whatever is required for our groundpounders in the dirt. ALL AT ONCE. Don’t tell me because of one program we can’t afford another one. Obama has changed the paradigm. WE CAN AFFORD EVERYTHING! If the Treasury will fund a $2 trillion liberal election payoff, we can damn well get Raptors and Lightening II’s and whatever else our military tells us it needs. That means ships for the Navy and Coast Guard as well.

SAVE JOBS AND PROTECT AMERICA!
DO IT ALL!!

In an indirect way the Air Force will be utilizing a F/A-18 platform with the introduction of the EA-18G “Growler” which is slated to replace the venereble EA-6B “Prowler”. The Air Force back-seated the 6B after the (dumb as dirt Obama) decision to retire the EF-111A “Ravens”. I’m pretty sure there will be zoomies in the back seat of the Growler.

Concern is prudent, worry is a waste.

We actually need several billion dollars worth of F-16 production to make it to an F-22 / F-35 Air Force. And guess what, we can actually start producing the RIGHT NOW. and frankly, given the amount of maintenance required on the heavily stressed fleet, there is probably an economic case to swap out the current airframes with new airframes…

phreshone on February 5, 2009 at 10:51 AM

Surely the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet would be a better bet. Better avionics, RCS, range etc.

They are are already in mass production for the Navy, and now Australia…if the Air Force was made to buy lots of them to replace the F-16, and to have a large enough fleet, the unit cost would be even lower.

Plus, it has two engines.

S-400 Iran has the S-300 as of a month ago.

Chuckie…which would you rather fly operationally, F-22 or F-35A?

pseudonominus on February 5, 2009 at 10:20 AM

Hmm…

The F-22 exists, the F-35 is “vaporware” until it’s done with OT&E and starts to flow out to the Squadrons. I’d hate to give up the air-to-ground role (and close air support, nearest and dearest to my heart), but my choice today would be the F-22. In a couple of years, that opinion may change. If both of them were available today and I were lucky enough to have a choice, the F-35 would probably win my vote.

phreshone on February 5, 2009 at 10:51 AM

Someone else who sees the writing on the wall! I wish you were in Congress right now.

What we need, are those two infantry divisions Clinton cut during his reign back. We already own the air, we need more boots on the ground.

I fear that all of this so-called stimulus is preventing the market from moving away from non-productive endeavors and onto productive ones. It’s clogging market efficiency, therefore preventing the market from correcting itself.

We actually need several billion dollars worth of F-16 production to make it to an F-22 / F-35 Air Force. And guess what, we can actually start producing the RIGHT NOW. and frankly, given the amount of maintenance required on the heavily stressed fleet, there is probably an economic case to swap out the current airframes with new airframes…

Both Australia and Japan would like to buy F-22s. Why not let them?

The more they buy, the cheaper is for the rest.

El Coqui on February 5, 2009 at 9:26 AM

+1

Even if the technology somehow fell into the hands of the Chinese, by the time they reverse-engineered a combat jet and got it operational…manned aircraft will have been superceeded by UAVs.

Some trails lead back to an attorney named Nathan Zeliff, located in the aptly-named “Shingletown, CA”. It stops dead there, since nobody owns up to being a client of Zeliff’s.

They want us to write letters to Congress and the President, but I don’t willingly do the bidding of anyone who wears a mask.

The more they buy, the cheaper is for the rest.