I thought the F-22 and F-35 were competing for a contract. When did it happen that both were going to be purchased?
Three or four years ago it happened.
The F-22 was to replace the F-15’s. And the F-35 was to replace the F-16, A-10, F-18, and a number of allied airframes.
The F-22 is an air superiority fighter intended to replace the F-15. The F-35 is a multi-role fighter intended to be produced in variants that can be tailored to the individual needs of the Navy, Marines and USAF. It is intended to replace the F-16 and F/A-18.
The multi-role concept gets us back to the F-111 (TFX) which wound up being a bomber instead of a fighter. Also, it was completely rejected by the navy which developed the F-14 as their version of the F-111 that actually worked shipboard.
Now it looks like we will get neither in any great numbers. We'll just get reinvented vintage aircraft.
You thought wrong. The F-22 was to be the "high" end of the "high-low" mix. The F-22 would be play the same role as the F-15, while the F-35 would be comparable to the F-16 for USAF a "swing fighter, that could do air to air early and then air to ground later. It was also slated to replace the F/A-18 for the Navy, and AV-8B (Harrier) for the Marines. British were also to use the F-35, and I believe the Spanish and Italians, who also current use variants of the Harrier.
But hey the world is a safe place at this point in time, (Riiight) and we're the Big Dog (in some respects) so we don't need more military stuff. Much more important to save the Turtles, the Snail darters and of course the inner city welfare recipient.
1995