Posted on 04/20/2016 8:00:08 AM PDT by huldah1776
Increasing threats from China and Russia are causing some lawmakers to look at restarting the F-22 fighter production line, a House Armed Services Committee staffer said Tuesday.
The draft defense authorization bill from the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces requires the Air Force to deliver a report to Congress by Jan. 1, 2017, detailing future aircraft shortfalls and what it would cost to buy more F-22s.
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The committee is asking the Air Force to provide cost estimates for another 194 F-22s.
The committee staffer said the report was included in the bill at the request of a member, but declined to say which lawmaker. The staffer also stressed that the bill requires only looking at restarting the F-22 production line, and is not a sign that Congress will actually support such a measure.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and guess it would be very expensive," the committee staff member said
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Won’t this piss off our allies!?...............if we have any left.........................
Congress actually has a good idea? Guess it happens, once in a great while!
I wonder how many F22s we could have bought if we had just spent the money on F22s instead of developing and tooling for the F35.
We’re already on the A-10C.
Was not aware of that.
Of course as an Infantryman, I love the A-10 though to be honest, it is really hard to tell the difference from the ground when they fly overhead.
The big problem with restarting the F-22 will be getting all the small subcontractors who supplied various bits and pieces up and running and into the supply chain again. The fact that a lot of them would be (and were) put out of business by an low production run was a key argument made against stopping the line at 187.
There shouldn’t be much worry about the the A-10 tooling. Boeing (I think) remade the wing tooling for the rewinging effort. And there are LOTS (like, hundreds) of low hours fuselages sitting at Davis Monthan dating from the 1990s Peace Dividend drawdowns. We could probably operate the current number of A-10s (and even support a respectable increase in return to operational service of mothballed ones) for another 80 years with what we have on hand.
The problem with the A-10 is the effort to retire it.
One of my screen savers and favorite pic is the one with the F22 and the Mustang.
It’s not a fair trade-off. The F-22 can only carry (internal) 1000lb class weapons. It can’t fly from carriers and it can’t fly from amphibs or unimproved airfields.
Redesigning the F-22 to do those things would cost a lot more than the F-35.
Keep in mind that the F-35 is not a “fighter”. It’s a stealthy light strike platform along the lines of an A-7, but with STOVL and better air to air capabilities.
We must need a ten year study to study the ten year study.
By 2053, we’ll have three experimental F-22s.
can you share a small version? Luv pics.
I understand what you are saying, but the DOD seems to be trying to make the F-35 all things to all people. I wonder if DOD misses your point.
In concept the F-35 looks cool. I saw a video of how an F-35 could perform an A-10 close combat mission. I was fricking stunned. This is something people have questioned if the F-35 could replace the A-10.
Unfortunately, the all things to all people seems to work out on paper but rarely in practice. Costs are escalating because making the plane so versatile is a "software" issue and less about hardware. This something Boeing learned on the 787.
The last flyer that was a multi purpose vehicle was the space shuttle and by the end of it life the only accomplishment was to blast into space and return without killing everyone aboard.
The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35 is performing it's intended job as a follow on to the F-117 Nighthawk very nicely.
It will never be the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) that the F-22 is , nor was it ever intended to be.
Tons of money has been spent upgrading the Air to Air capability of the F-35 to justify canceling the F-22 but it will never be an F-22
However, much of the good stuff developed for F-35 will eventually find it's way into the F-22 and other aircraft as well.
Lockheed must have crossed enough congressional palms to get this going again now that they have bled the F-35 program white without any significant result and now that the export prospects look dimmer by the day. The 35 is not the 16 replacement gold mine they planned for. They have only themselves to blame.
In 1920 Geroge Marshall wrote that the US will alwasy enter any conflict at a disadvantage. There have been exceptions, maybe GW1 and 2? Now, not so much.
what for? We can’t use the darn things ever since liberals pansified the military with it’s asinine and dangerous ‘social experimentation’ project, and hamstringing the military so that it can’t fight effectively- (Not saying military folks are pansies- just saying that dear leader has made it impossible for you good folks to do your jobs effectively-)
Why do we need powerful aircraft when we’re barred from using it’s firepower?
Bush capped the production of F-22s.
Those that were not put out of business by cancellation of F-22 were put out of business by the disastrous budget sequester deal foisted upon us by Obama, Boehner and Mitch McConnell. Sequester devastated the small to medium sized defense subcontractors that do 90% of the actual manufacturing.
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