dude you are a fa.... go back to DU
Another thing:
"The aircraft will operate at around 45,000- 55,000ft at a speed of around M1.5 without the need for afterburners, according to the USAF"
With these abilities, this a/c does not need to have VTOL or carrier-launch characteristics.
Look at the F117. It is a sub-sonic only a/c and only launches from a ground base. Yet it has the long-range capability to snuff the SAMs and AAA before the heavies get there.
The F22 will make a great complement to the F117. It would fly BARCAP.
True stealth.
2 Dimensional trust vectoring.
APG77, the most powerful radar in ANY fighter on this planet.
Advanced avionics
Helmet mounted cueing system
And much much more will make the F22 in the future like the F15 was for the next 30 years. Complete air dominance. A 300 pound gorilla who in a 4 ship formation goes up and is limited in kills by the number of missiles carried. An almost perverted overmatch to the newer threat aircraft which allows the USAF to dominate the sky with minimal loss of life or equipment.
The F22 will come! It is a neccessity. We today are confronted with a wide range of scenarios where high intensity/major theater war is STILL possible. We can't allow limited past experiences to completely drive our procurement of future weapon systems. Doing so and cancelling the F22 would create a void in our defense. We don't need many F22s, but we need them none the less. God knows what will happen in 2010. It's to late to worry about it then.
Again, the exact same arguments were brought against the F15. Yet today, no one would dare question the F15s performance or its neccessity within todays force structure.
Red6
No...
Ping for later read...
p
"usefull sistems"
Useful systems you mean.
And the F-22 is needed to replace the F-15, which is beginning to show it's age.
The F-14 has needed to be replaced for awhile, but no workable design had been forwarded to do so yet.
The F-16 also needs to be replaced.
Basically, all that nice new neato tech can't be installed in the 'tried and true' workhorses.
Wanna know why?
The generators aren't gutsy enough.
And the wiring couldn't handle the load either.
In the end, stripping and refitting an F-15 to use the electronics suite from an F-22 would cost the same as building a brand new aircraft.
Understand?
I don't think so. It will keep us #1 in air supremecy. I live directly in the flightline of Lockeed/Dobbins AFB in Marietta,Ga. , and as I write this, there is one being testflown. Great looking aircraft, regardless of what anyone thinks of it's effectiveness.
We hear the same exact thing about the Abrams Tank, until it proved to be almost invincible.
Then we heard this crap about the A-10 Warthog, until it proceeded to kill tanks like shooting fish in a barrel.
Then we heard this stuff about the Stryker, until it went to Iraq....
Before that it was the Bradley...
It might sound dumb today to spend that kind of money when our military efforts are directed towards fighting low tech terrorists.
However when the Chinese dragon rears it's head between now and 2020, we will be extremely happy our leaders bought that F-22.
the y-23 should be resurrected - it had superior performance, maneuverability & was faster as well.
At least 50% of the price tag is R&D, probably more, so if the [ahem] 'sistem' were cancelled now, all that R&D money is lost, with zero return on the investment. You would have us scrap years and years of research, engineering, design, software coding, testing, and prototype trials, paid for with money that has already been spent, just to save a few million on the actual construction of the plane. And leave us without a next-generation fighter to boot. Sounds to me like the half-assed DUmmie way of doing business.
And it ain't gonna happen.
My short answer, hell no. We have to keep the Russians and Chinese honest and advanced weaponry is the only way.
$239,000,000 for a systern....that's outragious!
stuning
Instead of cutting the budget of weapons systems (in a time of war), why don't you look at and advocate cutting some of that bloated social spending the federal government hands out. Have you looked at the federal budget lately?
But to answer your question. Absolutely not. I've personally seen the F-22 fly and it can out turn a F-16 (which is much smaller). We (the U.S.) must keep the industrial capability to produce advanced systems for our defense. The engineers and manufacturing base would simply move on to other industries due to lack of jobs. In other words, you can not halt defense technology and assume you can get it back when you need it.
Besides, do you think Russia, China and others are just sitting around on their hands?
Not just no, but Hell NO! :P