Posted on 06/07/2016 11:42:00 AM PDT by bkopto
US Air Force Gen. Mark Welsh made comments at an Air Force Association event on Thursday that were uncharacteristically bullish on the prospect of restarting the F-22 program.
Lockheed Martin shuttered the F-22 program almost five years ago. Since then, the top Air Force brass has been focused on the troubled F-35 program as well as looking decades forward to the Next Generation Air Dominance program.
In April, however, Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio said in Congress: "In light of growing threats from a resurgent Russia and an aggressive China, further exploration into restarting the F-22 line is deserved."
Welsh's comments on Thursday represented a shift in the Air Force's official attitude toward reviving the F-22; it had previously said doing so would not be cost effective.
"I don't think it's a wild idea," Welsh said, as Defensenews.com notes. "I mean the success of the F-22 and the capability of the airplane and the crews that fly it are pretty exceptional. I think it's proven that the airplane is exactly what everybody hoped it would be."
"We're using it in new and different ways and it's been spectacularly successful and its potential is really, really remarkable," Welsh continued. "And so going back and looking and certainly raising the idea well, could you build more? It's not a crazy idea."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Good to hear.
Good!
About damn time.
Makes sense considering how the F-35 has been performing and the insane cost of coming up with a true F-22 follow-on. Without the F-22, we lose air superiority fast and leave the F-35 to be swept up by the various Su-27 variants.
How is it the most lethal fighter if it hasn’t been tested in combat?
The big brains at the Pentagon finally figured out that the F-35 is no good?
One of two things will happen. Either Lockheed Martin will drag their feet on this and give all sorts of reasons why it can’t be done, because they can make more money off the F-35. Or Lockheed Martin will use it as an excuse to charge more for each F-22, because they need to reopen the line, as well as charging more for the F-35, because of a lower buy and the fact that the line they had planned to use is now building the F-22.
Bummer, but re-starting production of the Hog is about impossible.
The first thing I though of was the A-10. $:-)
We have plenty of exercises and drills that pits the F-22 against other fighters, both our own and those from overseas. The Raptor simply dominates all comers. Last I checked, the kill tally in these engagements was something like 350-2, if you accept claims by an F-16 driver (who got a lucky shot against an F-22 at Red Flag), and an RAF Typhoon who claimed a kill under similar circumstances.
I spend most of my time in southeast Virginia, not far from Langley AFB. Langley is home to the 1st Fighter Wing, which became the USAF’s original F-22 unit about a decade ago. For several years, the wing also had an F-15 squadron. I asked a couple of Eagle drivers what it was like to fight against the F-22. Their answer was short and sweet: “it sucks, they said.” The Raptor always kills us long before we can see them. The F-15 pilots were always happy to see the F-22s head for home; they would usually stay in the MOA a bit longer and get in some meaningful training that didn’t involve being a sitting duck for the Raptor.
Worth remembering that the F-15 has dominated the air-to-air arena for 40 years. An Eagle has never been shot down in aerial combat. But it can’t touch the Raptor.
s
GMTA. $;-)
Most beautiful modern plane ‘Eva!
RE: A-10 Bbbbbbrrrrrppppp
Meanwhile, MiG-21s are still flying.
Get going! Awesome bird.
You have to admit the Mig-21 is an amazing aircraft.
Were you a ground pounder? I was only a coastie, but got to see these things daily as a kid, they flew from 2 airbases near where I grew up in Western Massachusetts. I’ve only ever heard the gun once, but man, that’s a sound you’ll never forget, that and the sound of a B52 taking off.
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