I looked out at work today, onto production facilities for the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35). And assembly facilities for Globalhawk. As I recal looking down on the assembly facilities for the B-2 and B-1.
RPVs are old technology. Modern systems are autonomous. The JSF is longer range than the Raptor.
The next generation is to astound!
Not by the book it isn't, see here for example:
F-22, F-35, & the Hi-Lo Mix"he F-35A is a direct replacement for the Air Force's "Lo" end F-16 fighter and is of similar size and capabilities. Like the F-16, the F-35A is primarily a ground attack aircraft with a secondary air defense capability. The F-35A takes advantage of many of the advanced technologies developed for the F-22, but has a shorter range, simpler avionics, and is less maneuverable. "
Sigh. Autonomous is for reconnaisance and surveillance functions only. Air superiority absolutely requires manned control somewhere to make the decision as to shoot or not. Surveillance is far less stringent in decision-making, and time-stress. So, again, you are simply coming to the wrong conclusions. The Globalhawk is NOT an air-superiority anything. Not supersonic. Not air-to-air. It can be used for a kind of lame ground strike role, of course, but that is not particularly significant either.
If you're talking F22/35 yes. Just as is. But not budgeted for close to sufficient numbers for coverage or depth. We need more deployments.
If you're talking this...
Don, this odd claim caused me to look deeper into the PublicDomain info...and it shows this:
The F-22 [Raptor] combat range is est at 3220 km
(Source: http://www.aeronautics.ru/nws002/f22/techspecs.htm )ferry range est 3220 km
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22_Raptor )
Meanwhile, please note the following:
F-35 [JSF] combat range est 1100 km
(source: http://www.defence.gov.au/Raaf/aircraft/jsf.htm )
Non-combat range est 2222 km
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35 )
Although these sources aren't definitive, they do point to the F-22 having significantly longer range than the F-35.
No question who will be the Top Dog...or I should say, TOP GUN [something we need to re-institute]:
