I see your point and it is a fair one. Let me restate
The F-16 is not and was not meant as an equal to the F-15. The F-35 is not and was not meant as an equal to the F-22.
For example, the F-16 is less expensive than the F-15, and the F-35 less than the F-22.
The USAF would have been less capable if it had been denied the F-15 30 years ago, and it will be less capable today without sufficient numbers of F-22s
Agree completely with your last statement. Building the piddling number of F-22’s we’re building is insanity. There’s a 1936 feeling in the air...if you can find one still alive, ask the guys who served in the military in the mid-tp-late Thirties, back when they were doing exercises using eggs for simulated grenades, trucks with a “tank” sign on them to simulate enemy armor and General Patton was buying tank engine parts out of his own pocket. Of course, unlike that generation, we have to contend with morons who think dragging SEALs into court will be good for the war effort.
And not to be pedantic, but we also need to keep in mind (especially in the area of defense purchasing!) that cost is a poor indicator of superiority. For example, the KC-135’s I crewed were cheap compared to the EC and RC-135 versions, but fighting a modern air war without tankers is practically inconceiveable.
NoVA Freepers If anyone can show up and offer moral support,
Yankeemom and I would greatly apprciate it.
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