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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 admissio

• 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.