re: #96 jamesfirecat

Is the Russian New Bird better than the F-22?

Because if it isn’t then we don’t really need to worry about upgrading to the F-23 with optional DVD player to keep you entertained through the long trip through enemy airspace.

My point is look at the military budget, find the projects that are working and are needed in this war and keep them, find the ones that are too “pie in the sky” to have realistic usefulness in the near future, or aren’t needed in this war and cut them, we can fund those kinds of project when we’re not running a defficit which I think has a double digit number of zeroes in it.

I doubt it. The SU-30 is plagued with problems. Incidentally, the total final numbers of F-22s (187) will exceed those of Russian SU-30s (64 + 19). Two things of course is that it’s a flawed aircraft (the SU-30) and we’re not at war with Russia.

The F-35 project is going slow including the recent firing of the general in charge by Dod Secretary Gates. Gates was the man behind the cancellation of the F-22 and Lockheed Martin was more than happy to comply because that meant more money with their F-35 project. Unit price of an F-35 while high at 80 million each is still a lot lower than the F-22 at over 120 million each.

The talk now is of 4th generation combat. This is not only coming from the civilian side of the DoD but by military leaders with experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. The F-35 itself exceeds or does not meet these requirements and the cheaper and slower A-10 and attack helicopters fit those requirements.