He was shadowbanned for good cause a very long time ago. In partial answer to his question, the Manhattan Project wasn't trying to create a polished weapon, an

He was shadowbanned for good cause a very long time ago. In partial answer to his question, the Manhattan Project wasn't trying to create a polished weapon, and the weapons it created were very crude and not very many steps from the lab bench. The F-22 also had a goal of totally outclassing the previous generation of air superiority fighters, which it handily does; compare to our first operation jet fighter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-80_Shooting_Star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-80_Shooting_Star ADDED: From the Wikipedia article; we aren't comparing the same thing at all: It was estimated by the end of production, $34 billion will have been spent on procurement, resulting in a total program cost of $62 billion.... So more like $34 billion for R&D and all the units manufactured. I think total program cost is what it'll take to keep the fleet flying until they're retired, e.g. engine repair and replacement, maybe even an avionics mid-life kicker.