The F/A-22 Raptor Must Fly

The American Spectator ^ | July 8, 2004 | Michael Fumento

[Spackidagoosh]

[corkoman]

OK fine - yes on the F-22 as long as we maintain production of the A-10 warthog. Whoever suggested phasing out the A-10 should be required to catch javelins for 3 days.

[RicocheT]

President Kerry just does not see the need for the F-22. Not when every American needs dental coverage and the UN is there to resolve foreign threats.

[tbpiper]

Whoever suggested phasing out the A-10 should be required to catch javelins for 3 days.

Agreed. The A-10 may not be sexy enough for the Airforce image, but it's damn deadly and efficient. Give it to the Army or the Marines, somebody who's familar with down and dirty fighting.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

The article mentions 22 purchased, and I believe an additional 23 were given funding just in the last week.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I've already got my F22.

[Moonman62]

In 1960, with no U.S. involvement in a hot war, the percentage of GDP spent on defense was 9.3. This year, with wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and anti-terrorist military activities around the world, we're spending a miserly 3.5 percent.

Yet the entire federal budget keeps taking up a higher percentage of the GDP. One has to wonder where all that extra money is going.

[FrankR]

"The international arms market is now flooded with Su-27 aircraft, because the Russians will sell to anybody with a bit of loose change jingling around. "

Good. Why don't we buy one and disect it to (American-ize it) tweak our jets. The Soviets copied our designs over the past 40 years, so what's the difference. Could save millions in design and research.

[Non-Sequitur]

OK fine - yes on the F-22 as long as we maintain production of the A-10 warthog.

The A-10 has been out of production for almost 20 years.

[capt. norm]

They're training in them at the local (Tyndall AFB) right now although I think they do most of their flying out over the Gulf.

[jdege]

And has the AF shown any interest in developing a replacement?

[USMCBOMBGUY]

Good article/post, The Air farce should have all 22s they want, just as soon as they get on board with Navy and Maine Corps and stop blocking the JSF. A-10 are great, but cant we upgrade or replaced them with something that allows better target discrimination.

[reagandemo]

The FA-22 is probably the last manned fighter that we will build. The capabilities of the plane are greater than a human body can survive and with the successes in remote control such as in the Global Hawk and Pr editor the writing is on the wall. Look for the last manned plane to be a Wright Patterson AF Museum to be the FA-22 they currently have on display.

[hopespringseternal]

Why don't we buy one and disect it to (American-ize it) tweak our jets.

Because the problem isn't technical, we already know how to build a far better jet. It's called the F22. The problem is getting the Marxists in congress to fund it when they are still mad America won the cold war.

[Non-Sequitur]

And has the AF shown any interest in developing a replacement?

No.

[KriegerGeist]

OK fine - yes on the F-22 as long as we maintain production of the A-10 warthog. Whoever suggested phasing out the A-10 should be required to catch javelins for 3 days.

I agree! Those pictures that we saw of those A-10 Warthogs during the early part of the war that took a major beating and still made it home in one piece really proves their toughness. Their combat effectivness, well proved to be second-to-none. Now, I know that the A-10 can't "hover" like a helicopter, but we should be able to develope bigger and better heavily-armed, un-manned drones for that purpose... Don't you think?

[Southack]

We've paid for 23 F-22's to date, spending $26 Billion (yes, with a "B") on the program so far to date.

For that same money you could have 1,000 sub-orbital Burt Rutan-style fighters, a dozen B-2 stealth bombers, several F-117 stealth fighters, and still have enough money left over to purchase every Su-27 available on the market.

The F-22 is the best fighter ever, but that and a quarter will get you a cup of coffee.

Civilians, yes, civilians are now flying higher and faster than the F-22. The F-22 can't even go into Space...but civilians can.

Nor can a mere 23 F-22's stop 6,000 civilian aircraft if they were to be employed by our enemies in two massive swarms in two different parts of our nation.

Even the Pentagon has seen that the F-22 isn't needed for air supremacy; that's why they've ordered that it be modified for use as a ground attack aircraft (as if we'd ever let a Billion+ Dollar aircraft plink at muddy ground targets).

The F-22 harkens back to WW2 Germany when the NAZI's were thrilled to build the Superior Tiger II tank...only to watch as their meager production run of 500 machines was obliterated by the Allies' 10,000+ "inferior" tanks.

How many American fighter pilots are going to be retired from our F-14's, F-15's, and F-16's, only to be replaced by 23 F-22 jocks??

Who thinks that it is a good idea for America to have *FEWER* frontline fighter pilots??

...Because that's what the F-22, and its massive cost overruns, means.

[sargunner]

Pukin' Ping

[Flightdeck]

"Look for the last manned plane to be a Wright Patterson AF Museum to be the FA-22 they currently have on display."

I've spent days in those hangars. Lost and dehydrated, I eventually crawled to the entrance, but my thirst for aerospace was slaked.

But for the record, I disagree with you; I think we've got another generation or two of manned crafts yet, if not more.