Topic: I think the F-22 is dead

[Kurgan]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR2009070903020.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR        This is nothing more than yellow journalism. Washington somehow bought all the major news outlets with the bailout money and didn't tell anyone!

[Orstio]

I agree, the F-22 is probably on its way out.

What do you think will be its replacement?

[Kurgan]

There will never be a replacement for the raptor, not in my lifetime at least.  It was/is the replacement for the 30 year old F-15, the dominate air to air fighter of the world, and a darn good one at that.    Washington plans on the F-35 JSF to do the job. The two platforms are not even comparable. The F-22 is a stealth, vectored thrust, supersonic cruiser that ensures air superiority. IMO,  the Raptor was too good for its own good. The USAF refused to allow the sale of the Raptor to ANY foreign service, not even Israel. The F-35, on the other hand, is supposed to make all the services happy and be a major player on the international arms sale stage.  Everyone makes more money......  Hopefully we'll never go to war with an enemy flying 5th generation Sukois.

[Astronuc]

Senate Votes 58-40 to End Production of the F-22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072100135.html

"The Senate voted Tuesday to kill the nation's premier fighter-jet program, embracing by a 58 to 40 margin the argument of President Obama and his top military advisers that more F-22s are not needed for the nation's defense and would be a costly drag on the Pentagon's budget in an era of small wars and counterinsurgency efforts."

Now will this result in a reduction of spending on defense?

[Kurgan]

Yea, defense is definitely getting cut. 2010 will basically be at 2007 levels. This is one of the first major programs to get slashed. Washington gets more bang for the buck killing 'terrorist' with robots.         I just want USAF pilots flying the meanest plane on the block. The F-35 platform is not going to cut it. Forward thinking has never been a requirment to become a member of congress.            A great rebuttle to the washington post article can be found here:        http://www.f-16.net/news_article3622.html         

[vishniac]

I like to see F-22s in the Transformers movies and I like big beautiful toys as much as any other guy. But more of more expensive aircraft with more gizmos is of little sense.
pehaps it's the foot soldier in me who speaks but, yes, there is a war on the ground and old A-10s and AC-130s are more useful.

Reading all those people defending F-22 seems strange. The US spend 40% of all world defence spending, they've got allies, there just can't be a major conflict with someone having something to oppose US Air Force and Navy air fleet, neither China nor Russia.
But they want more and more F-22s...to do nothing.

Those guys on F-16net are just another blog preaching for personal interests.

[Kurgan]

The same thing has been said about every advanced weapon system we've developed. They all get used eventually. The truly scary thing is that the F-35 will most likely be the last manned fighter we develope. I don't want to live in a world where a  president/dictator has the ability to wage war with little or no risk.