*** I’d put 1 F-22 up against 10 F-35s any day of the week and twice on Sunday. ***
I wouldn’t. I think it’s best that we face the fact that the F-22 will go bye-bye within 20 years because there aren’t enough of them to affordably upgrade and it would cost more to re-start the line than design a new aircraft. And if they opt to design a new stealth fighter from the ground up — it will be based more on the F-35 tech than the older F-22.
The F-22 is an amazing bird though.
The only reason the F-22 cost as much as it did was because the production line was insanely spread out.
“over 1,000 subcontractors and suppliers from 46 states and up to 95,000 jobs, and spanned 15 years at a peak rate of roughly two airplanes per month”
That’s insane. Fix that, things get cheaper quick.