Posted on 07/15/2009 11:49:05 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Thread bump.
No, I think the Pentagon would rather go with this rather than the F-22:
[img]http://www.defencetalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/f-35-jsf-air-combat.jpg[/img]
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LOL! very true.
Yup, we don’t need more air superiority fighters. We have the best the world has or ever will see. Ignore the declining rates of US citizens who graduate from our engineering colleges. Ignore our cratering manufacturing base. We’re the best, so why spend more money on maintainung production and upkeep facilities? It’s just a waste of money. Besides, if the EVIL USA lets other nations catch up, they won’t feel as threatened, and we’ll all be safer.
/ALL HEAVY SARC
Estimates for the fighter jet range from as little as $132 million to as much as $312 million. So far, the Air Force has invested as much as $28 billion in the Raptor's research, development and testing. That money, referred to as a "sunk cost," is already spent and is separate from money used for future decision-making, including procuring a copy of the jet.
By the time all 183 jets have been purchased, around $28 billion will have been spent on research and development. An additional $34 billion will have been spent on actually procuring the aircraft. That's about $62 billion for the total program cost. Divided out, that's comes to about $338 million per aircraft.
But the reality is, if the Air Force wanted to buy just one more jet, it would cost the taxpayer less than half that amount. The current cost for a single copy of an F-22 stands at about $137 million. And that number has dropped by 23 percent since Lot 3 procurement, General Lewis said.
"The cost of the airplane is going down," he said. "And the next 100 aircraft, if I am allowed to buy another 100 aircraft ... the average fly-away cost would be $116 million per airplane."
Maybe because this thread is about the F-22, not the F-35.
Our government has no mandate if it cannot defend us.
I posted your link. The question remains.
That is one great photo.
Are Russian bombers known to fly over Alaska often?
Meanwhile, let's discuss the procurement of more F-22's -- several hundred more, or maybe a thousand. Earlier in the thread
U.S. Sir Force DFifth Generation Fighter: The F22A Raptor Requirements Retreat
I posted the following:
Each State Air Guard unit needs at least one squadron (18 fighters per squadron). Several coastal States should have a full wing (3 squadrons): Alaska, California, Florida, Texas, Virginia, Hawaii, the Dakotas and Maine. Some pacifist New England States probably may not want any. So figure at least one thousand fighters to cover threats from north, west, south and east.
You like dead pilots and destroyed us aircraft?
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