Well, the budget for 700 F-22’s now looks cheap compared to Obama’s bailout bill. But at best it would buy us a decade, then these Russian/Chinese systems would evolve far enough to beat the F-22, also. Manned fighters are as dead as the battleship in 1941 - it’s just going to take a tragic battle outcome to prove it to a certain caste of knuckleheads. The future is UAVs, satellites, and cyberwars conducted from bunkers deep beneath Nevads and Colorado.
>> Well, the budget for 700 F-22’s now looks cheap compared to Obama’s bailout bill.
...and defense spending actually IS economic stimulus, unlike the welfare pork that now comprises the so-called “bailout bill”.
What’s more, you can demand that defense funds be spent in the USA, without so directly pissing off the rest of world.
We ought to be putting people back to work not only on more fighters, but also on more advanced missile systems.
What has come to the forefront lately is the need for infantry and counter insurgency-just like the Philippines at the turn of the 20th Century. Didn't the pundits say at one time push button war would take over and we wouldn't need ground troops?
The A-10, also written off, is proving valuable. Close air support has returned.
I say our future military is more like carrying a bag of golf clubs. You need to have more than one club.
Every time the air superiority fighter has been “over” the need comes right back again. The F-15 has been boss for 30 years. I say the F-22 will probably be the boss for 30 more. Let's not kill it.
High speed, low cost decoys are the key to defeating the new air defense systems. Just run them out of missiles shooting at decoys and their systems are worthless.