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Originally Posted by Pangloss62
I post the below for Maggie because I know she's into jets and stuff and would likely have a thing or two to say about the F-22. This editorial was in our Atlanta Journal Constitution because we make these jets a few miles from here in Marietta, GA.
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As MaggieL notes, before one can build a weapons system, first, one must define objectives. They cannot even agree as to whether China is a threat, let alone how much.
But we know this. The purpose of air power is to support the troops. And so the add on - ground attack function - which the Raptor by design will never be good at.
IOW the purpose of Raptor is to protect the Air Forces' #1 plane - A-10 - and other aircraft doing that same function.
The Raptor is unmatched in dog fighting - air superiority. But it sounds too much like the (forgot the number) X-70 supersonic bomber. It is not the airplane that needs study. It is a strategic objective that must be defined. That goes well beyond the scope of a fighter's abilities. Who will be the enemy? That is the question of F-22 verses missiles. Who is this enemy that we would spend so much money?
BTW that was the purpose of the Wolfovich paper that stated, if necessary, we should be prepared to attack India, Russia, or Germany. That paper was asking what weapons we need - such as F-22.