I'm not so sure regarding the F-22: production costs are only one side of the equation. Its maintenance is very expensive, and there may simply have been no sol

I'm not so sure regarding the F-22: production costs are only one side of the equation. Its maintenance is very expensive, and there may simply have been no solution in sight to reduce these costs. I think the stealth coating in particular is very expensive to maintain. It's hard to find reliable figures, but it seems to be roughly $45,000/hour, compared to about $20,000/hour for an F-15. Adding more F-22 would absolutely have reduced the per-unit cost of production. But unless you can lower the cost of flying them, it will just make the operational, ongoing cost of your fleet go way up.