A Late Rant

[chris_gerrib]

Every once in a while I find myself mentally re-enacting arguments from the past. The last couple of days, I found myself reflecting on Obama's decision to not buy any more F-22 fighters. When the decision was announced several months ago, the Usual Suspects were upset that Obama was betraying America or some such. This got me thinking, and a rant eventually (late, I know - sue me) crystallized. Since it's my blog, you get to read it.

The most plausible near-term threat to the US is a war with China. Now, this site tells me the Chinese have "about 1,300" fighters. That's a lot. However, the US has:

409 F-18s (US Navy)
238 F-18s (US Marine Corps)
685 F-15s (US Air Force)
145 F-22s (as of August 2009)

For a total of 1,477 first-line air superiority fighters, as per wikipedia. If we went to war with China tomorrow, we could trade them fighters one-for-one and still win.

In the mean time, we are actually at war with Iraqi insurgents, the Taliban and Al-Queda. These enemies field a combined total of zero combat aircraft. In fact, these forces are totally at the mercy of an aircraft that would be hard-pressed to defend itself against a Cessna flown by a guy armed with a .45 semi-auto.

Tell me again why we need more F-22s?

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Tell me again why we need more F-22s?

Because procurement policy for a leading-edge fighter which will probably still be in service decades from now needs to take into account more than simply the needs of the absolute present. The F-15 first flew in 1972 and the F-18 in 1979: what will we do for air superiority 10-20 years from now, when the F-15 is obsolete and the F-18 obsolescent? At that time, our F-22's will be filling the role that the F-18's are now, as the now second-line fighter.

It is much more expensive to start and stop and start a production line than it is to keep it running. 145 F-22's will probably not be enough for the long run, and so we will either have to restart the production line in 2013 or so, when we have a real President again, or start the line on an entirely new fighter, which won't be airworthy until the late 2010's. (The F-35 is more of a fighter-bomber than an air superiority fighter: it can't fill the same role.)

Obama has done something which looks thrifty, but is liable to cost us more, in both gold and blood, before the story's over.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Actually, the production line is still open - we ordered 184 F-22s, so there's a couple of years production.

But when we actually face a more robust threat, we can restart the line, be that 2013 or (more likely) 2015. In the meantime, we can spend the money buying planes we don't need buying stuff we do need.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Not to mention all the OTHER aircraft that have been designed, prototyped and built by allies or in partnership with allies that could also be built if a threat emerged.

Nor to mention that a threat requiring vast over-whelming air superiority isn't likely to emerge from nowhere. You can't design, build and get invisible aircraft into operation. If China is looking like getting the edge, or Russia, or Magicistan, then there will be time to handle it. Just as there would be if it looked like China was getting a navy any time soon.

But, hey, I know people don't like the facts to get in the way of a good bit of paranoia.

[jetfx.livejournal.com]

The F-22 was designed back in the 1980s with Cold War issues in mind. A big part of the reason the program was canceled was because its design is no longer relevant to US needs since 1991. There simply is no other air force in the world anywhere near challenging the US air force. In every conflict of the last 20 years, heck the last 60 years, the US could rely on the fact it could bomb its opponents at will.

Second, the timeline for development and production of new aircraft reflects peacetime needs and priorities. The end of the Cold War is part of the reason why the F-22 took so long, as its priority status was downgraded. If you look at WWII, the US went through several generations of aircraft in the span of six years. All military equipment of all the major powers went through the same rapid evolution of design.