[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Watch: Mexico City Protest Against American Ex-Pat 'Invasion' Turns Viole Kazakhstan Just BETRAYED Russia - Takes gunpowder out of Putin’s Hands Why CNN & Fareed Zakaria are Wrong About Iran and Trump Something Is Going Deeply WRONG In Russia 329 Rivers in China Exceed Flood Warnings, With 75,000 Dams in Critical Condition Command Of Russian Army 'Undermined' After 16 Of Putin's Generals Killed At War, UK Says Rickards: Superintelligence Will Never Arrive Which Countries Invest In The US The Most? The History of Barbecue ‘Pathetic’: Joe Biden tells another ‘tall tale’ during rare public appearance Lawsuit Reveals CDC Has ZERO Evidence Proving Vaccines Don't Cause Autism Trumps DOJ Reportedly Quietly Looking Into Criminal Charges Against Election Officials Volcanic Risk and Phreatic (Groundwater) eruptions at Campi Flegrei in Italy Russia Upgrades AGS-17 Automatic Grenade Launcher! They told us the chickenpox vaccine was no big deal—just a routine jab to “protect” kids from a mild childhood illness Pentagon creates new military border zone in Arizona For over 200 years neurological damage from vaccines has been noted and documented The killing of cardiologist in Gaza must be Indonesia's wake-up call Marandi: Israel Prepares Proxies for Next War with Iran? "Hitler Survived WW2 And I Brought Proof" Norman Ohler STUNS Joe Rogan CIA Finally Admits a Pyschological Warfare Agent from the Agency “Came into Contact” with Lee Harvey Oswald before JFK’s Assassination CNN Stunned As Majority Of Americans Back Trump's Mass Deportation Plan Israeli VS Palestinian Connections to the Land of Israel-Palestine Israel Just Lost Billions - Haifa and IMEC This Is The Income A Family Needs To Be Middle Class, By State One Big Beautiful Bubble": Hartnett Warns US Debt Will Exceed $50 Trillion By 2032 These Are The Most Stolen Cars In Every US State Earth Changes Summary - June 2025: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, China’s Tofu-Dreg High-Speed Rail Station Ceiling Suddenly Floods, Steel Bars Snap Russia Moves to Nationalize Country's Third Largest Gold Mining Firm

Science/Tech
See other Science/Tech Articles

Title: Left Behind: US Jet Fighters Hold No Candle to Russian, Chinese Rivals
Source: [None]
URL Source: [None]
Published: Sep 17, 2015
Author: staff
Post Date: 2015-09-17 22:05:10 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 198
Comments: 3

Sputnik... The US Air Force is facing a serious dilemma: insufficient air superiority fighters as potential competitors Russia and China build up their capabilities in the field, an article in The National Interest by Dave Majumdar read.

US Air Force Diluted F-35’s Capabilities to Meet Deadline, Congress’ Demands The Lockheed Martin F-35 fifth-generation jet fighter has its share of issues. Meanwhile, the F-22 Raptor fleet was terminated after only 187 aircraft were built, less than 50 percent of the 381 jets needed by the military.

According to the article, the F-22 was a formidable combat aircraft, with a balanced combination of stealth, speed and maneuvering capabilities.

"It’s simply the best air superiority fighter the United States has ever produced and it was a foolish, shortsighted decision to end its production run prematurely," Majumdar wrote.

But while many within the USAF would like to have the F-22 back in service, this is unlikely to happen taking into account a number of difficulties the military faced in its efforts to repair the jet. It would take an enormous amount of money and time to get the F-22 back, the article read.

What is more, while the F-22 became operational in 2005, the computer architecture of the F-22 Raptor was designed back in the early 1990s.

While the delays, malfunctions and costs of the F-35 fighter jet pile higher and higher, the main contractors for the notoriously over-budget and overdue program threw record amounts of money towards politicians in 2014. © Flickr/ United States Marine Corps 'Dead Meat' in the Skies: F-35 Will Be Torn to Pieces by Old Fighter Jets The Raptor’s software is particularly obtuse and difficult to upgrade. This is why arming the jet with the AIM-9 guided air-to-air missile and AIM-120 all-weather short-range air-to-air missile has been so problematic.

Finally, the basic F-22 airframe design originates from the 1980s. Stealth, propulsion, avionics and airframe design have come a long way since the Raptor was designed, the author explained.

If the Air Force decided to return the F-22 to service, it would have to ensure that it would be capable of countering modern contemporary threats. "The reality is that the Air Force likely will never restart the Raptor production line," he wrote. "The technology is dated and the jet may not be relevant to the threat environment past the 2030s–especially if one considers that the PAK-FA and J-20 are both around the corner."

Read more: sputniknews.com/military/...ghters.html#ixzz3m3DAJGi3

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.

#3. To: Tatarewicz (#0)

I thought we used drones now.

titorite  posted on  2015-09-19   13:35:49 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

        There are no replies to Comment # 3.

End Trace Mode for Comment # 3.

Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]