Shades of the B-2 bomber? F-22 also “so expensive that we dare not hazard them in combat”? Or will the new Raptor end up like Thuds and Phannies over Viet Nam, million dollar aircraft dropping a thousand dollar bombs on five dollar bicycles?
Divide up three hundred eighty airplanes among all the places that we’ve got to have them, and then figure out how many you can lose when the fighting starts.
Also keep in mind that the Air Force has always insisted on either a compliant environment or keeping their planes above sixteen thousand feet to avoid ground fire and missiles.
We need a different plane that we can afford more of.
We need a small replacement for the A-10, using a 30mm chain gun capable of taking DU ammunition. We need an austere air superiority fighter that can be procured in quantity. And we need them in numbers such as we can afford to hazard them and can replace combat losses, which we can’t do now.
The F/A-22 is an awesome airplane, but it’s an awesome airplane that we can’t afford to buy in quantities sufficient that we can hazard them. And if you can’t hazard them, it’s the same thing as not having them.