2 ms·

That's not a compliment. The F22 was supposed to be the Ferrari you don't want to drive all the time, and the F35 was supposed to be the inexpensive, less capab

by jjk166 6y ago

That's not a compliment. The F22 was supposed to be the Ferrari you don't want to drive all the time, and the F35 was supposed to be the inexpensive, less capable plane you use against non-peer enemies. In asking for funds to develop a new plane to fill that role, there is an implicit admission that the F-35 has failed to fill that role for which it was designed.

decafninja 6y ago
Now there is rumors of the "F-36 Kingsnake" circulating about a sort of cheap "F-16++" fighter being needed. The F-15EX's existence is also kind of an admission that the F-22/F-35 combo didn't quite meet desired expectations too.
- nradov 6y ago
  The F-22 pretty much met expectations, however the operating costs are high (as expected) and the production line was shut down so it's impossible to build more. Meanwhile the old F-15s used for missions like homeland defense are literally falling apart so some sort of replacement was mandatory. The F-15 production line is still active so that became the only practical option.
  - decafninja 6y ago
    From a capability perspective, the F-22 seems clearly superior to its predecessor the F-15, so definitely successful there. But wasn't the original goal to eventually wholesale replace the F-15 (the air superiority variants at least)? That clearly isn't going to happen. Much like how the F-35 was supposed to replace the F-16 and F/A-18, but seems like that's not going to happen the way things are going.
    - nradov 6y ago
      The program which produced the F-22 started back in 1981 and the original intent was to wholesale replace the F-15. But it got caught in a procurement death spiral of escalating unit costs which caused repeated quantity reductions. Eventually the Obama administration cancelled all future purchases in 2011 in order to save money for the F-35 program and the wars in the Middle East. At this point it's effectively impossible to restart F-22 production as the supply chain for critical components has disappeared.

by jjk166 6y ago

decafninja 6y ago

Now there is rumors of the "F-36 Kingsnake" circulating about a sort of cheap "F-16++" fighter being needed. The F-15EX's existence is also kind of an admission that the F-22/F-35 combo didn't quite meet desired expectations too.

nradov 6y ago
The F-22 pretty much met expectations, however the operating costs are high (as expected) and the production line was shut down so it's impossible to build more. Meanwhile the old F-15s used for missions like homeland defense are literally falling apart so some sort of replacement was mandatory. The F-15 production line is still active so that became the only practical option.
- decafninja 6y ago
  From a capability perspective, the F-22 seems clearly superior to its predecessor the F-15, so definitely successful there. But wasn't the original goal to eventually wholesale replace the F-15 (the air superiority variants at least)? That clearly isn't going to happen. Much like how the F-35 was supposed to replace the F-16 and F/A-18, but seems like that's not going to happen the way things are going.
  - nradov 6y ago
    The program which produced the F-22 started back in 1981 and the original intent was to wholesale replace the F-15. But it got caught in a procurement death spiral of escalating unit costs which caused repeated quantity reductions. Eventually the Obama administration cancelled all future purchases in 2011 in order to save money for the F-35 program and the wars in the Middle East. At this point it's effectively impossible to restart F-22 production as the supply chain for critical components has disappeared.