The U.S. Air Force can’t use its F-22 Block 20 jets in conflict—because it would require too much effort and cost too much to get the aircraft ready for battle, a top service official said.
“They will never be a part of the combat force. They don't have the most modern communications. They don't shoot the most modern weapons. They don't have the most modern electronic warfare capabilities,” said Lt. Gen. Richard Moore, deputy chief of staff for plans and programs for the Air Force.
The Air Force is asking to shed 32 Block 20 F-22s in its 2024 budget—a divestment that was blocked by Congress last year.
“There's a lot of thought that it's too early to be walking away from fifth-gen[eration] aircraft, and the Block 20s certainly are, but they are not the Block 30/35 aircraft. They are not the fifth-gen Air Force that we're going to carry into combat, and it was a little bit of a difficult choice, but a choice that we made nonetheless, because we believe it's imperative to get to the future,” Moore said Thursday during a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event.
Poster Comment:
The F-22 only costs $143 million each. You can do the math on 32 times $143 million.