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.
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.
The article mentions 22 purchased, and I believe an additional 23 were given funding just in the last week.
I've already got my F22.
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.
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.
That quote exposes the stupidity of the U. S. Press on defense matters in a nutshell.
I remember my business professor handing us reams of "data" from his buddies at some libertarian think-tank. The reports called The Raptor, B-2, and F117 total boondoggles. They were wasting public tax money.
As I recall, we students asked if the F-14, F-15, F-16. F-18, Apache, and B-1 programs were also boondoggles. We took a quick look back into late 1960's-mid 1970s news and found the answer. Yes.
Nothing changes.
btt
One fundamental factor to our sucesses on the battlefield is our ability to gain and hold air superiority. While the F-15 does have a perfect kill record(something like 108-0), we're still looking at an airplane that was designed in the 1960s and first fielded in the early 70s. Fortunately, there's been room for growth in the airplane, and a few Alaskan based F-15C Eagles have been refitted with the new APG-78 AESA radar(I believe it's the same radar used in the Navy's F/A-18E and F Hornets) as well as the new AIM-9X Sidewinder that's coupled with the pilot's helmet mounted sight. However, you can only "supe up" an airplane so far until you need something new, only as the result of another country fielding something that is superior to yours in one form or another, or entirely. Yes, the Sukhoi Flanker family, the JAS-39 Gripen, the Rafale, and EFA Typhoon are impressive machines, and they may be equal or are superior to our current USAF's F-15 force, our pilots still have the edge in training and being able to adapt to the current threats in the skies. Having the F/A-22 in our arsenal will do more than even up the level on the playing field. When you mix pilot experience with the Raptor, as well as knowing your enemy's strengths/weaknesses and how to exploit those weaknesses to your advantage, you're going to have one hell of an advantage over the battlefield.
However, part of me thinks the technology there might just be to expensive at this time (5 years from now...lets build them for sure)
It seems that perhaps the smarter plan could have been to upgrade the F-14's ...in to the F-14D+ ...and do the same with the F-15's (make an E/F version) - Obviously the new F-14D+ and F-15E/F would be cost more then the current versions.....but we could have built them in much more numbers -
These two aircraft updated.....along with our better skilled pilots......would clearly have the advantage over the SU-27's and SU-35 out there - I have no doubt about this - Upgraded F-14's and F-15's...(with American pilots)......would eat any SU-27 / SU-35 for lunch).
This perhaps would have been the better short term solution....with the F-22 coming around at a cheaper rate in 2009/2010 time frame.
Well, that's not quite true. The SR-71 was designed to run on continuous afterburner... which isn't quite the same as running supersonic on no afterburner.
What makes the SR-71 modestly efficient is the transition, at high speeds, from a turbojet configuration to a near-ramjet configuration (i.e., turbine bypass). The actual airflow patterns about the inlet spike and out the exhaust nozzle provide (via pressure differentials) the vast majority of the thrust. The actual momentum transfer to the working fluid from the engine itself reduces to a fraction well below 50%. The J-58 engine is an amazing piece of hardware.
Am I too late to start a Freeper Su-27 purchase pool?
Who's running it?