Government wants to stop F-22 for F-35

[Optimus Prime]

My take on the matter is that aircraft in our current fleet grossly outperform all other air forces in the world combined. There is no need for us to mass produce 2 new fighters and retire a majority of our existing fleet that can NOT be topped by anyone.

We can leverage both the F-22 and the F-35 designs and put them to work in future development for a gen 6 or 7 fighter if needed but mass producing these two aircraft in these two times is about as stupid as invading Iraq to support the war on terrorism.

[Eric Diffoot]

As for the F-22, I'll say that there is obviously nothing out there in the world that can match it, everyone knows that, and don't need that much. I think the 243 that the USAF wants is good enough as the proposed 750 isn't going to happen and if the line continues, as so does 95,000 jobs.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1719852220090217

The F-35, I don't like how they are putting so much faith into the F-35 program and ordering so bloody many. They're over simplifying the fleet of the future (just like the navy), which I could understand saves costs, and the aircraft would have the capability to fill the roles of other aircrafts. What happens if some structural issue arises like when the F-15 A-C models had their issue, the entire fleet gets grounded, that's one pretty large proposed fleet. Also, like other people are saying here, the F-35 is limited in flexiability because of the stealth features while the Typhoon, SU-35/47, and Rafale have the ability to be flexible. They ought to invest more in the F-16 E/F variants as well as the newer F-15G/H variants to replace the older F-15/16s variants.

[SYDCBRWOD]

As for the F-22, I'll say that there is obviously nothing out there in the world that can match it, everyone knows that, and don't need that much. I think the 243 that the USAF wants is good enough as the proposed 750 isn't going to happen and if the line continues, as so does 95,000 jobs.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1719852220090217

The F-35, I don't like how they are putting so much faith into the F-35 program and ordering so bloody many. They're over simplifying the fleet of the future (just like the navy), which I could understand saves costs, and the aircraft would have the capability to fill the roles of other aircrafts. What happens if some structural issue arises like when the F-15 A-C models had their issue, the entire fleet gets grounded, that's one pretty large proposed fleet. Also, like other people are saying here, the F-35 is limited in flexiability because of the stealth features while the Typhoon, SU-35/47, and Rafale have the ability to be flexible. They ought to invest more in the F-16 E/F variants as well as the newer F-15G/H variants to replace the older F-15/16s variants.

The F-35 is more flexible than any of its 4th generation predecessors. You can load it up externally just like an F15/16/18 where it will do a comparable or better job as a bomb truck, or it has the ability to do something that the teen series cannot do - that is go stealthy with internal loadouts. Just because the airframe is designed with VLO features doesn't mean that it has to be flown that way all the time.

I assume the concept of operations when using these airframes is to initially go stealthy, take out the opposing air, and air defence systems (similar to gulf war 1 and 2) then with little opposition the F-35's can be loaded up externally. Seems like the best of both worlds to me.

[Optimus Prime]

I assume the concept of operations when using these airframes is to initially go stealthy, take out the opposing air, and air defence systems (similar to gulf war 1 and 2) then with little opposition the F-35's can be loaded up externally. Seems like the best of both worlds to me.

You know I never looked at the F-35 utilization in this light.. it almost makes having 2 different airframes unnessecary. It really would be as simple of a strategy as build 100 f-35s and call it a night!

Why would we need both the F-22 & F-35?

[Eaglefan68]

I wish they'd open production of the F-15 Eagle for the guard units. The Eagles we have now are aging too much and won't continue. Seeing the factory is making a newer Strike Eagle for a different country, it would be easy and cheaper to keep it going.

Congress has ordered and funded a study for just that. They are concerned that a big gap in air defense is going to happen around the 2014 time-frame and they want to know if a purchase of the latest variants of Eagles and Vipers to re-equip the Guard units is needed. Certainly units like the Green Mountain Boys from Vermont could use new Vipers with the latest bells and whistles.

[Top_Gun]

As could the 104th from Barnes who converted from A-10s to Eagles that were at the Cape. The C models they got from Kadena had more hours than the A's at Otis......