The Case For Reviving The F-22 Fighter -- Michael Auslin, Wall Street Journal
China and Russia are developing and fielding sophisticated air defenses and advanced stealth fighters. The Raptor is the only plane that can meet these challenges.
As Congress begins to take up the Obama administration's defense budget, one item not even under discussion needs to be considered. Events of the past 18 months have made clear that it's time to rethink the fate of the F-22 Raptor. The presumptions that led the Senate to cancel funding for this fighter have been turned upside down, as new threats have emerged and old ones have become clearer.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has promised that America's airpower needs will be served by the still-unfinished F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). But that airplane will be smaller, slower and less lethal than the F-22, and its future is becoming more cloudy with every new development delay. Most importantly, the F-35 simply was not designed to do the F-22's job, leaving America's global air dominance in doubt against emerging threats.
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My Comment: The Air Force and their political backers have put all their eggs into the F-35. But even the F-35 supporters admit that the ....
.... airplane will be smaller, slower and less lethal than the F-22, and its future is becoming more cloudy with every new development delay.
Does this make sense .... no .... and with each passing day it is clear that a rethink has to be done. My prediction, when Sec. of Def. Robert Gates and other senior Pentagon officials retire at the end of this year, a new look will be done on the F-22 program.
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