“They had a great plane, the F22 and threw it away.”
They should cut the F-35 buy and reopen the F-22 assembly lines. The flyaway cost for the F-35 is now right at the figure for the F-22, for a much less capable airframe.
The original F-22 buy was supposed to be for 650 planes. We ended up with 187 (now less after attrition). We should go ahead and double that number at least. The F-22 is operational now, and all-around superior to the F-35 except for the number of bombs it can carry internally. After the F-22s have cleared the battlespace of threats, any legacy fighter or bomber would do fine dropping bombs from high altitude.
If I’m not mistaken I think they destroyed the jigs and tooling for the F 22...