The fact that its a 25 year old design is not surprising at all. The F22's planning and design began in the early 80's. Lockheed won the contract to build the thing as far back as 1991. It also doesn't matter if they are completely equivalent in performance to our planes either as long as they build and fly more of them. Quantity has a quality all of it's own.
“Quantity has a quality all of it’s own.”
Exactly!
That’s why the treasoncrats killed the F-22 program at 187 aircraft, instead of buying enough for a 1 for 1 replacement of the elderly F-15 as well as enough to cover for attrition.