Oy.
http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/04/06/daily9.html
The Pentagon’s $534 billion budget request for 2009 shoots down future production of the F-22 Raptor, the stealth fighter made by Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Marietta, Ga.-based Aeronautics division.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday revealed the Pentagon’s plans to complete its order for 183 Raptors plus four more. But the U.S. Department of Defense will order no more after that. The Air Force had planned to order 20 Raptors in 2010 and 40 more in coming years.
This is, of course, Not Good News. The F-15’s that the F-22 was meant to replace are old and creaky, but will now have to soldier on for a few decades longer. 187 F-22’s is just not that many, especially considering that around 1500 F-15s were built.
Of course, the political Left is reliable in its irrational applause:
The decision is welcome on two fronts. First, the F-22 contributes little to U.S. national security. It has not flown a single mission in the Iraq or Afghanistan campaigns. Further, as the Center for American Progress’s Larry Korb explained in 2005, the F-22 was designed to address threats that the U.S. last faced during the cold war:
The F/A-22 Raptor is the most unnecessary weapon system being built by the Pentagon. In fact, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld tried to do away with it in the summer of 2002 but backed off when his Air Force secretary threatened to resign over the issue. It was originally designed to achieve air superiority over Soviet fighter jets, which will never be built.
Air superiority, despite what some idjits seem to think, is never a bad thing. And the F-15, as good as it was, is not even remotely stealthy. And despite what the Unthinking Progressives claim, the Russians continue to work on more advanced fighters. The Unthinking Progressives have fallen into the old trap of not preparing for the next war, but the last one… in this case, the anti-Taliban/urban terrorist war. Trust me, the future will have all kinds of nastiness in it, and it’s better to be prepared than unprepared.
Starscream could not be reached for comment.
3 Responses to “F-22 manufacturing program to be ended”
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How much does an F-22 versus an F-15 cost to manufacture in today’s dollars? How much does an F-22 versus an F-15 cost to fly and maintain in today’s dollars?
Accordign to Wiki, the incremental cost of an F-22 is a staggering ~$130 million dollars per plane. But the recently announced F-15SE costs $100 million per plane, so that’s not that different. As for maintenance… dunno.
I don’t understand the applause. The political left wants to play United States superpower too. It makes use of the miitary forces of the United States for its own political causes. They don’t seem to realize that they need to continue to fund R&D in new weapon systems and that weapon systems age or become obsolete and need to be replaced. They want to have it both ways. Pay next to nothing for defense and then use United States military power for things like “peace keeping operations.” It’s unforgivable to deploy the United States military forces and not have them properly equipped to perform their mission.
Will the F-35 Lightning II be able to pick up the short fall of this small F-22 Raptor procurement?