Discarded after spending billions, with the features rolled into the F-35.
That's not correct, the F-22 is the "F-15" to the F-35's "F-16" role.
Here's a discussion from Feb. 4 this year regarding the current state of the AF from U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command Gen. Michael Hostage (ironic name really). The money quote:
But, the F-22 Raptor will have to support the F-35. And here comes another problem. When the Raptor was produced it was flying “with computers that were already so out of date you would not find them in a kid’s game console in somebody’s home gaming system.” Still, the U.S. Air Force was forced to use the stealth fighter plane as it was, because that was the way the spec was written. But now, the F-22 must be upgraded through a costly service life extension plan and modernisation program because, “If I do not keep that F-22 fleet viable, the F-35 fleet frankly will be irrelevant. The F-35 is not built as an air superiority platform. It needs the F-22,” says Hostage to Air Force Times.Those 180+ F-22s will be awfully busy protecting the 1600+ planned F-35s...