I agree, but it would seem to me that you’ve only got so many long range air to air missiles. If ten of our aircraft are challenged by hundreds of an opponent, doesn’t that make them vulnerable?
I’m asking because I don’t know that answer. Hopefully you’re going to alleviate those concerns.
Let the F-22’s ‘fence’ with the enemy BVR and blow up ten each. Then retire onto a wing of less-capable-but-cheaper friendlies who can take up the slack.
OR build a frack-tonne of F-22s and reduce their unit price.
It’s the right question, because its how the Russians eventually beat the Germans. The Russians churned out 1000’s of cheap tanks, while the Germans churned out dozens of very good, very expensive tanks with better range.
Quantity has a quality all its own. We’ve also made this aviation mistake before - eschewing dogfighting - thinking that dogfighting was a thing of the past.
The F-22 is a scary airplane. It can kill other aircraft before it shows up on the other guy’s radar. It’s a good weapon for what it does. Maybe it needs to be accompanied by cheaper dogfighters.
Modified B-1B’s fly behind the first flight of Raptors. Housing up to 100 air to air missiles each. Those missiles are slaved to the Raptors radar and can be fired one at a time or fired in series. Only two B-1B’s set-up for this air superiority mission could defeat any potential foreign air force.