One is for close air support, the other is for air dominance.
Can’t believe the moronic Gates is trying to kill off the Raptor so he can fund more Reapers.
Fact is, if there is no air dominance, the Reapers are sitting ducks. There’s no way it would survive a dogfight against a manned fighter.
Of course. But that's "apples and oranges". What we are discussing is a UAV that would be designed from the ground up specifically for air superiority. And in that case, the "manned fighter" would be the "sitting duck", because the unmanned airframe will be vastly superior in manueverability. That's the whole point.
Oh, and the Air Force doesn't particularly want to fly "Reapers" either. Read about how the "geek pilots" are treated by the "fighter jocks".