$250,000 or $161 Million??? hmmmmmm The original design is 30 years old but the current version is not. They are a very good tool and meet the need. The F22 is sexy but how many of those are really needed.
What a crock. Typical MSM story. The beam has reached it's service life. It is not "defective" it lasted almost exactly as long as it was suppose to. When you brakes wear out on your car are they "defective"?
The answer is to build 25,000 hi tech but still cheap piston/prop aircraft like the Skyraider or the P51 or basically any pre=jet prop attack aircraft and put the most modern missiles on them, would be quicker to build this fleet and a whole lot cheaper. The other nations cannot afford to mass build even copies of a Raptor and its a sucker game to chase them by trying to out do them, the answer is LOTS of cheap aircraft and un-manned aircraft.
Limit the production of the solid gold planes to enough to get the job done. The days of dogfights is over.
Interesting how the AP writer carefully manages to ignore the F-117 which has proven itself very effective, especially in Iraq.
While an apples and corn comparison, it is worth noting that the B-52, an aircraft that is over 50 years old, remains one of the Air Force’s workhorses. In fact, some of today’s B-52 flight crews are flying the same aircraft flown by their fathers!
The article also fails to note that in ANY offensive campaign, the Air Force is one ONE part of the total airborne offensive weapons capability of America. The author deftly manages to avoid including the contributions made by Navy and Marine fighters.
So, while the article attempts to make us feel uneasy about the capability of the Air Force, IMO, we have little to worry about. The Air Force will eventually get its fighter problems sorted out and the US still has plenty of fighters available for air combat roles (should they be needed) courtesy of the Navy and Marines.
Does anyone else remeber when the C-17 was about to come on line that the C-141s started to be declared unsafe due to wing spar issues. The number of C-17 purchased went up.
Now the F-15s are grounded with 60% now allowed tot fly. Is the Airforce trying to get more F-22s?