Posted on 10/25/2007 11:44:22 AM PDT by Freeport
It's time we do that again and get the AF the 381 aircraft it needs to continue unsurpassed air dominance for the next 30 years.
I simply cannot understand why we can’t commit to purchasing a large number of these planes over a long period. Yes, I know, there’s a Constitutional limit on the committment of funds - but there are other ways of doing this, like a committment by the leaders of both parties to do this NO MATTER WHAT.
Such a committment would enable the cost per plane to be reduced considerably. It would also make our enemies sit up and take notice that we’re not going to be pushed around, not now or for the foreseeable future. Later (like 5-10 years down the line), we could export somewhat stripped-down and less than state-of-the-art F-22s to closely allied nations like the UK, Canada, Australia, Israel, etc. This would enable us to further offset the fixed costs of R&D and production, while still maintaining a substantial technological lead over everybody else (enemies and allies alike). The sale of a couple hundred F-22s to allied nations will further discourage enemies from screwing around with us or our allies.
I agree completely - put the money where it can make the most difference, and this is one of the most important ones there is.
An awesome plane that our country should fully invest in.
179 F-22’s for the entire Nation...... That’s 3 - 4 aircraft per State!
Come On USA...We can do better than this!! Fund them all!!!
From the standpoint of aeronautical engineering, if you look at the extremely uniform pattern of vapor (low pressure area) being produced by those wings & body it tells volumes about the efficiency of the F22’s aerodynamics. Compare it to the F14/15/16/18 and you can see a marked difference.
This is the first photo I’ve seen of the F22 that shows just how efficient it must be at producing lift. Amazing!
Right there with you! The A-10 is fantastic for it's role and the F-35 will never have its capabilities. We need a follow on for it as well. With the update, keep all the capabilities of the current A-10 and add 100 knots of speed, better targeting and night vision capabilities, and the same communication interfaces going in to the F-22/35 programs.
Sound like a plan?
Full agreement.
Obviously, there is a concern about F-22 tech getting in the hands of China, Russia, etc if it’s sold to Japan, the UK, Australia. But it may eventually anyway, and if the US does all it’s production first, and is working on the next gen at the same time, by the time our allies get to buy, it’s probably too late for an enemy to get too much of an advantage, because it takes years to integrate the tech they mught steal into their own designs. Plus, the bottom line is that we need a higher production run to be able to afford the number that we need.
"Give me a big enough lump of titanium and I'll make you a life-size replica of Nike of f*ckin Samothrace."
I bet when all is said and done...we end up with the 381...
I would not be surprised if the F-22s and F-35s are the last manned fighters/close-air support aircraft we buy. The UAVs are getting that good, and some ground units are starting to really rely on them. They are cheaper, can loiter much longer, and can be a much better force-multiplier than most manned aircraft.
I hear what you are saying and can understand the sentiment, to a degree. But reality remains, when your boots are on the ground, in the sh*t, and you have to call in a run danger close......You want it from actual human eyes in the sky, with real SA....not some pilot-less drone (where the pilot is actually thousands of miles away looking through a straw-size hole and has absolutely no real SA).
UAVs are wonderful. They are here to stay. They are only going to improve. But human piloted military aircraft will be needed well into the future.
Can you send me a copy of your red x?
” I hear what you are saying and can understand the sentiment, to a degree. But reality remains, when your boots are on the ground, in the sh*t, and you have to call in a run danger close......You want it from actual human eyes in the sky, with real SA....not some pilot-less drone (where the pilot is actually thousands of miles away looking through a straw-size hole and has absolutely no real SA).”
The way this is now working is that the troops on the ground either send map coords or designate with a laser. It doesn’t matter whether the aircraft is manned or unmanned, or at 300 ft or 15,000 ft. The B-1 makes a very nice “bomb truck” for JDAM delivery. The Reaper (Predator Mk 2) can also provide GPS guided 500 lb. or small diameter bombs for ground troops. A future, possibly supersonic, “bomb truck” UAV makes a lot of sense.
“UAVs are wonderful. They are here to stay. They are only going to improve. But human piloted military aircraft will be needed well into the future.”
I think for autonomous air-to-air UAVs there will need to be human piloted aircraft on scene to task them (”attack target 17 as designated on our integrated sensor systems”). The UAV software could of course have many modes, from remotely piloted to fully autonomous “kill any foreign airframe targets with no IFF over Iraq”. I think the value of human eyeballs is vastly overrated. These UAVs will have multiple sensors and cameras pointing in various directions, and will probably have better “situational awareness” than human pilots...all depending on the quality of the software, of course. ;-)
Being able to handle 30 G turns makes up for a lot of shortcomings. The improved range and performance gained by eliminating the cockpit, oxygen, ejection seat and so on are just icing on the cake...
A big concern for us ought to be Russia or China developing such an autonomous air-to-air UAV (using IR sensors, against which our stealth technology is only marginally effective) capable of nullifying our shiny new fleet of F-22s and F-35s at much lower cost, without risking pilots, and able to evade both air-to-air missiles and SAMs.
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