I take another angle. How many pilots are you willing to see shot down in order to continue to keep the F-15 as your premier air superiority fighter? That is how I see it. I want USAF to win 100-0. Not 51-49. Btw, the cost will be around 120 something million for each plane. It may become less as more planes are built and R&D and development costs are paid for. For the awesome things that plane will do against other fighters and ground anti-aircraft missiles, I think it is worth every penny. The capabilities that plane will possesses will save pilots lives as opposed to pilots who fly the F-15. Again, why I would say it is worth every penny.
No, what you are saying is that you aren't prepared to admit that you are in favor of retiring vast numbers of our current pilots to field your beloved F-22.
If you can't tell me how many you are prepared to give up, then either you fear disclosing such numbers or else you aren't prepared to give any pilots up (the latter meaning that you aren't prepared to pay for the expensive F-22).
It's not at all clear that the F-22 will save lives.
Back in WW2 the Germans had a vastly superior tank (the Tiger II). However, they were only able to build 500 of the hyper-expensive machines.
Those 500 "superior" Tiger II's were OBLITERATED on the battlefield by our 10,000+ "inferior" tanks.
Fast forward to today: the F-22 is so expensive (we've *already* paid $26 Billion for the first 23) that we have to retire scores of F-15 and F-16 pilots for each new F-22 that comes on line.
Well, how do 23 F-22's defend against an attack of 6,000 civilian aircraft? What about a swarm or ten or twenty of a thousand UAV's?
Giving up numbers for quality is not always a recipe for success. It certainly didn't carry the field for the NAZIs against our overwhelming WW2 numbers.