Posted on 11/25/2004 6:44:38 PM PST by Haro_546
Yeah, Money will be needed to defend against it.
Friday November 26, 2004
Lockheed Martin lands $2B order for F/A-22 fighter jetsLockheed Martin landed a $2 billion Pentagon contract to build 22 more F/A-22 Raptor fighter jets for the Air Force, the Department of Defense said Thursday. The contract "definitizes" terms of an agreement struck in May between Lockheed Martin (LMT) and the Defense Department to build the aircraft - referred to as Lot 4 - at a fixed price, with delivery slated for October, 2006.
Excluding test planes, the order brings to 45 the number of F/A-22s already built or under assembly for the military.
The F/A-22 program aims to replace the F-15 as the nation´s premier air-to-air fighter aircraft. Initially, the program called for 339 of the planes, produced at a rate of 36 a year by 2013.
But the program has been scaled back to about 220 aircraft amid budget concerns and growing sentiment in Washington that current global security risks no longer merit maintaining such costly fleets of fighter planes as they did during the Cold War era.
The first squadron of fully operational F/A-22s is scheduled to be in place by late 2005.
Sorry, you lost me!
The F22 is anything but obsolete.
You should start to feel the hair on the back of your neck stick straight out. I'd suggest not standing under a tree.
Anybody to second the motion that is on the floor?
Yes, cancel it. Air dominance doesn't need to cost so much.
I agree. Its a good plane.
"... Initial Operational Capability of one operational squadron is slated for December 2005..."
Are they going to meet this goal?
Airpower doesn't win house-to-house fighting.
The IAF doesn't have any F-15s. Familiar with the restrictions placed on those F-15s during that joint exercise?
Faster, more manueverable; it blew the F-18 away.
Is this plane pilot flown? If we're using the latest technology, it should be a plane without a pilot. Why..because machines guided from the ground or a ship can now outperform pilot flown planes. It has to happen someday. Sorry Air Force. The era of the machines is upon us.
Its been in development for decades, the Russian have been investing heavily in anti stealth missile as well as other nations.
Its well underway.
If you can catch an F-22...you can cancel it.
Go ahead....try it.
Thank you.
lol :) I wont try.
I'll admit I could be wrong, it HAS happened. But FReeper Pukin Dog, who is a former F-14 Commander and TOPGUN instructor who got out last year has some good inside iggies that tell him it's dead. He's pretty sure of the matter, and I've never found him to be wrong.
As for my own bona fides, I've got a Bachelor's in Aeronautical Science, a Commercial-Instrument-Multi-Engine license, and have spent the last 11 years as a Naval Aircrewman, with 2500 hours in P-3 ORIONS. That's a total of about 20 years in aviation, at some of the best schools for it in the nation.
That day is here, my friend.
Check out the UAV's that are being built. It's like a giant video game.
Professionally, I feel for you... The debate to separate the AF from the Army was tough in the US (And I've studied that a lot in the last few weeks. Lemay was ok, but that other guy... He's my man).
The People's Army still includes the air forces. And how do you deal with missle defense? Army? AF? Who controls it?
The reason that the West wins is that we have a clue. We bought it for a nickle at a side show.
I hope you don't get any smarter. You tend to be fun to pound on when you retain the socialist bent.
/john
I've read your posts, your inability to spell or think coherently and your complete lack of knowledge regarding the evolution of military aircraft and the threats they operate against. I'm left to conclude that your parents don't know that you're using their PC again, right? So...is Jr. High out tomorrow also and will you have any more interesting vanity posts?
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