Since 2010 it's be very obvious that the United States Air force is not the only airforce in the world to have stealth Technology to it's disposal. Now Russia, India and China and even Korea and Japan have stepped in with stealth programs of their own starting with the long awaited Russian Su-50 or "Pak Fa" air superiority fighter along development with India's FGFA variant of the Sukhoi prototype. China has been working on their Chengdu J-20 and had a successful test flight in early 2011 which sent shock waves throughout the world having skeptics ask if the modern day Cold War has returned in the form of The United States vs China just as it was back then with American vs Russia with the Su-27 vs F-15.
Don't think that stealth is only exclusive to large countries like China. Korea has begun it's "KFXX" program to answer north Korea's potential interest in buying a fleet of PAk Fa's or J-20's. Japan is working on the ATD X "Shin Shin" which is very much like the F-22 Raptor and many sources have conformed Lockheed Martin's involvement in the program. These programs also do not include the up and incoming Mig XX program set to go head to head with the F-35 and Eurofighter. Iran's possible stealth fighter.
Why more F-22's instead of the 600+F-35's?
Well it's safe to The F-22 Raptor is without a doubt the most developed fighter aircraft ever built with several years and billions of dollars invested in it's program while the F-35 is beginning to complete it's prototype stage the F-35 will not be as usable as the F-22 could be especially compared with these up and coming stealth aircraft the Raptor was design to take on several Su-27's and Mig-29's at once while it's been proven to be 1 Raptor against over 15 F-16's in simulated combat and being successful. The Lightning on the other hand has yet to prove it's air supremacy against other fighters. I believe personally that the USAF has over spent to much on this program and will regret decommissioning the Raptor program.
Sure we can retro fit current and aging F-15's with up to date modern technology such as the AESA Radar system to take on the J-20 but that would still put us at a huge disadvantage with the F-15 being nearly 40 years old now it's going to be difficult to keep pace with the next 20-30 years and these airframes will not last long. I did see some promise from the F-15 Silent Eagle being a brand new fighter with F-22 like capabilities but we still need something more "Modern" and not a retro modified hot rod with an LS3 Turbo to take on a brand new 2012 Nissan GTR for lack of better words. It's time to retire the F-15 and build more F-22's.
I believe that the United State's airforce shouldn't even consider buying F-35's at all. The F-16 is still a very good aircraft and we rarely use them today. The F-22 was originally design to not only be an air superiority fighter but it could also engage ground targets. Why not fit the Raptor with these systems? I can see where the Navy might need F-35's to replace it's aging hornets and the US Marine Corps it's Harrier Jump Jets. They are very old and in desperate need of a modern version but even then they should be limited to small numbers.
Other country's have shown interest and will be buying F-35's and to a degree I think it's wonderful yet foolish. After all these years we will be offering our biggest secret to the rest of the world on stealth technology to the point were when it's time to create a sixth generation fighter everyone will have the ability to create stealth technology on their own without the aid of the united states nor will be interested in buying any future aircrafts from the states. Instead they will simply just build their own.
What the United States airforce should have done from the beginning was put both the F-22 and YF-23 in active service. Put the F-22 to replace the F-15 while the YF-23 could have been a decent replacement for the F-14 Tomcat.
Sixth Generation aircraft in development for the Navy?
I honest believe F/A-XX is probably the biggest waste of our tax dollars since developing another bomber aircraft for our military. We simply do not need sixth generation air crafts quite yet however the Air force plans to develop one as soon as 2025. The F-22 has yet to carry out a single sortie nor the F-35 has yet to go into full production. What the hell is our government building yet another costly stealth fighter that will likely sit and collect more dust?
If the Air force would only know they could easily produce more F-22's and continue further development on weapons we could very easily close the gap on any country who's currently developing stealth fighters of their own. With over 20 years of developing how could china and Russia produce a better aircraft in the next 10-20 years? what can they do in that time frame that the USAF has not done with the F-22? This is now our chance to take this program and run with. It will not be difficult to produce more F-22's although cost will be an issue and this is why the F-35 should be cut in half for just the carrier and VTOL variants if not dropped all together.
By the Time the Pak Fa and J-20 actually hit production it will sadly be safe to say the United States government will have yet again wasted our tax dollars on developing another aircraft called the F/A-XX for the navy and continued to invest in this worthless aircraft called the Lightning II. They really don't have to when the answer lies within their own decommissioned program they took out. All they have to do is bring back the F-22 and all the future air supremacy threats will be solved. At least Air to air wise.
VF1Skullangel with acceleration media.
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