US Airforce wants only four more F-22s

[AVIATOR]

Top Air  Force officials said Monday that they supported the Obama administration’s  decision to buy only four more of the advanced F-22  fighter jets, making it less likely that Congress will insist on extending  its production.   

The Air  Force had previously said it needed 60 more of the planes, a position that had  built expectations for a fierce battle in Congress over the program’s  future. Under the administration’s plan, the Pentagon would speed up the testing of  another Lockheed Martin fighter, the F-35, which it plans to buy in much greater  quantities.

“This is the first time in the entire history of the F-22 program that  Lockheed could not count on its Air Force customer wanting more F-22s,” said  Loren Thompson, a consultant who advises Lockheed Martin and other military  contractors. “And the company clearly cannot be pushing as hard with Congress as  it did in the past because it won’t have the customer on its side,” he said.

Douglas A. Birkey, the director of government relations for the Air Force  Association, a group that often lobbies for the service, said he also expected  to see Lockheed Martin shift its focus from the F-22 to the F-35, which is also  called the Joint Strike Fighter.
The F-22 was designed for aerial combat while the F-35 would focus more on  ground targets and is meant to be cheaper.

Before the announcement by Mr. Gates, both had fought hard for the F-22,  saying the Air Force needed it as a hedge against Russia and China and even a  possible war with Iran. They had advocated buying 60 more of the planes, which  would have brought the Air Force’s fleet to 243. But in their essay, Mr. Donley  and General Schwartz wrote that “the time has come to move on.”
They said it would cost $13 billion for 60 more F-22’s. Yet, they added:  “Much rides on the F-35’s success, and it is critical to keep the Joint Strike  Fighter on schedule and on cost. This is the time to make the transition from  F-22 to F-35 production.”

Mr. Gates had said last week that he supported plans to build more than 2,400  F-35s. Industry officials said the essay laid to rest any doubts about where Mr.  Donley and General Schwartz stood.

[Webmaster]

Good, the USAF should really focus on the F-35 now. I've seen this coming and said it already quite some time ago. I guess it took realizing that a F-16 gap was emerging for the generals to give up on their F-22 vision and almost tunnel vision on the F-15/F-22 issue alone.

Hopefully they'll find a good way of deploying the F-22 force in the future despite the smaller number. Maybe this means we can now call the F-22 a "strategic fighter". Still, 180 is a good force.

[AVIATOR]

Well what I have said previously is that 1940 is gone. Building F-22s to fight in huge aerial dogfights won't happen and if it looked likely at all, F-35s will take out their airforces on the ground.

[Webmaster]

Well the B-2's will do that, F-35 hasn't got the legs, so you only need a bunch to protect the bombers. Don't need F-22s to guard your airspace either and on the battlefield, the F-35 will be much better fit-for-purpose than the F-22 anyway.
 
And as I said in the past, if the Chinese start acting up, say you'll stop imports and they'll listen, LOL, bunch of capitalists there keeping up the communist mask for an excuse to keep people from interfering. Move out of your house and work for a few cents for the greater good of the global consumer, uhm, we mean China. 

[AVIATOR]

But 2400 F-35s? Think that'll be enough?

[shawn a]

Sure, that's plenty.
Swarm tactics with quivering chihuahuas!  Ouch!

[shawn a]

I bet there will be further reductions in the planned buy of chihuahuas.

[Eldorado82]

Interesting to me how many F22's IAF will have....and by what date

[F-111 C/C]

Interesting to me how many F22's IAF will have....and by what date

Not sure if you're joking or not but I think the U.S. has decided the F-22 will NOT be exported.

[Eldorado82]

piece of a lousy jock isnt it
yep my fantasy is to see some F22's in the IAF. mybe we should jump to F35 instead?

[F-111 C/C]

At least we could have counted on the IAF flying the F-22s the way they're supposed to be flown!

[Eldorado82]

thanks for admitting the truth about our  pilots