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I'm kind of torn. I don't agree with a lot of what Rumsfeld did, but he made some fairly sound decisions on some programs and where to spend money. The decisions made to go with 1800 F-35s and only a few hundred F-22s are probably fairly sound, given our enemies both current and future. If our economy was not so intertwined with China, and if our government wasn't so friendly towards them, I would say the F-22s were just as important as the F-35s. Even with Russia trying to come back from the dead (and one could argue that they are doing so successfully), it's still a hard call to make between the F-22s and F-35s.

The old pilot in me that came of age just as the F-15 and then F-16 started being deployed, says we need as many F-22s as we can get, but the current high-tech gadget freak in me says the money might be better spent on UAVs, especially since UAVs are starting to become more and more important to the folks on the ground (they are fast turning into some of the infantry's best friends).

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.

The old pilot in me that came of age just as the F-15 and then F-16 started being deployed, says we need as many F-22s as we can get, but the current high-tech gadget freak in me says the money might be better spent on UAVs, especially since UAVs are starting to become more and more important to the folks on the ground (they are fast turning into some of the infantry's best friends).

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.