I was afraid of the Soviet Union and mostly supported our military budget, until 1991, for we won the Cold War. Surely enough, our defense budget plateaued from 1992, until 11September2001, when this budget item just about doubled over the next decade (mind you, this is inflation adjusted)...for a bunch of rag-tag terrorists who have zero chance of taking over the world:
My very first Huffington Post article focused on this 10% solution for Peace.
So to the title of this posting, first, you surely must know that the F-22 is the latest (well, this is debatable) line of American fighter jets, the fifth generation, built by Lockheed Martin and Boeing:
The Raptor first flew in 1997, 15 years ago, but was officially accepted into military service at the end of 2005.
The price tag so far has been $78 billion, and 187 have been built, which means that each fighter costs $417 million. It is said that the next one off the line will only be priced at around $150 million because the R&D expenses were significant. Thus, the mis-logic is that the more you build, the cheaper it will be. But the 600 total was stopped by the U.S. Congress at 187, on the threat of an Obama veto. How this happened with all the Military Industrial Complex pressure bordered on the unbelievable, unless this fighter is so dangerous that the only solution was to move on to the Sixth Generation (from Wikipedia):
...is a conceptual airplane expected to enter service in the United States Air Force and United States Navy in 2025–30 timeframe.[24][25] With the Chinese Chengdu J-20 and theRussian-Indian Sukhoi PAK FA under development, the need for of a sixth generation fighter may be urgent for the US military.[26] The USAF seeks new fighter for the 2030–50 period named the "Next Generation Tactical Aircraft"/"Next Gen TACAIR"[27][28][29] The US Navy looks to replace its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets beginning in 2025 with the Next Generation Air Dominance air superiority fighter.[30][31]
Note, of course, the direct reference to China and Russia. In fact, I would not be surprised if the F-22 is allowed to fly mostly because China last year unleashed their 5th Gen Chengdu Jian 20 Stealth:
Curiously enough, it looks like our Raptor. Yes, cyber espionage is suspected. It might be ready by 2017, or 2019, but the avionics will not be close to what we have.
So, it looks like we will be leaning on the new F-35 (Lockheed Martin, Lighting II):
...which also looks like the F-22, but is not, and cheaper, maybe:
Note that LM could afford to be ambivalent about the F-22 because they have the sole lead with the F-35. The first production model was delivered to the Air Force a year ago. Oh, I should add that this fighter was grounded only three times last year for an electrical failure, and its first flight was a dozen years ago. So let's not only get after the F-22. Comparing the F-22 with F-35 for stealthiness:
The U.S. Air Force, in it’s effort to get money to build more F-22s, has revealed just how “stealthy” the F-22 is. It’s RCS (Radar Cross Section) is the equivalent, for a radar, to a metal marble. The less stealthy (and much cheaper) F-35, is equal to a metal golf ball. The F-35 stealthiness is a bit better than the B-2 bomber , which, in turn, was twice as good as that on the even older F-117.
I might add that the fleet of 2,456 F-35's over the next 25 years will cost over $1 trillion. It never ends, does it? The Navy hopes to soon take delivery, but still has the reliable McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) F-18 Hornet, which was introduced onto the deck nearly thirty years ago:
The Blue Angels fly them.
Just so that you do not get lost in the game of air war, we also have the F-15 Boeing Eagle (once McDonnell-Douglas, with a 100-0 combat fighting record), which will be on active duty into the mid 2020's:
However, as long ago as 2007, all were grounded for a short while for maybe being too old. Some of them are 30 years old now.
Finally, the F-16 General Dynamics Falcon, which is active, still in production, and serving in 25 other air forces around the world. This plane has one tail:
The Air Force Thunderbirds use the F-16. Remember now, the Naval Blue Angels fly aircraft with two tails, while the Air Force Thunderbirds fly a jet with one tail. Not to be left out, the Falcon was grounded in 2003 when one crashed, and this was hardly the first time, for in 1979 structural failures appeared. Do you want to be military pilot?
There are many problems with the F-22 Raptor, but I'll only mention two, with a solution. All these years, with all those wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and perhaps even Libya, the F-22 has yet to see combat action. To quote these sources:
Both the Air Force and Lockheed Martin said the reason the planes have yet to fire on any enemies is because they're designed to dominate the air against rival, sophisticated air forces or air defenses, not a small, poorly armed third-world militaries and insurgent groups.
As former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said:
...the F-22, to be blunt, does not make much sense anyplace else in the spectrum of conflict.
The larger reason is that the F-22 has routinely been grounded because of hypoxia. The oxygen supply system to the pilot has continued to malfunction, and, after 15 years, they have not yet figured out the problem. We send Man to the Moon and can't get oxygen to a Raptor pilot?
The simple solution? Abandon this plane as quickly as possible. There is absolutely no need for the F-22. It is an expensive embarrassment and even Senator John McCain, a former pilot (left with his father, who was a four star admiral), has been quoted to say that he does not think the F-22 will ever be involved in the combat it was designed for, " because that threat is no longer in existence." So what do you do with 187 of them? SEND ME YOUR IDEAS.
Ah, then, are we through with war into the future? Ha..ha...ha... The competitors for our 6th Gen are Boeing (left) and Lockheed (right):
Mind you, I have long owned Lockheed Martin and Boeing stocks, but I'd give them up for Peace. Plus, I have been trying to influence LM to consider OTEC and Boeing to look at the hydrogen jetliner. There will be life after Peace is attained.
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My very first Huffington Post article focused on this 10% solution for Peace.
So to the title of this posting, first, you surely must know that the F-22 is the latest (well, this is debatable) line of American fighter jets, the fifth generation, built by Lockheed Martin and Boeing:
The Raptor first flew in 1997, 15 years ago, but was officially accepted into military service at the end of 2005.
The price tag so far has been $78 billion, and 187 have been built, which means that each fighter costs $417 million. It is said that the next one off the line will only be priced at around $150 million because the R&D expenses were significant. Thus, the mis-logic is that the more you build, the cheaper it will be. But the 600 total was stopped by the U.S. Congress at 187, on the threat of an Obama veto. How this happened with all the Military Industrial Complex pressure bordered on the unbelievable, unless this fighter is so dangerous that the only solution was to move on to the Sixth Generation (from Wikipedia):
...is a conceptual airplane expected to enter service in the United States Air Force and United States Navy in 2025–30 timeframe.[24][25] With the Chinese Chengdu J-20 and theRussian-Indian Sukhoi PAK FA under development, the need for of a sixth generation fighter may be urgent for the US military.[26] The USAF seeks new fighter for the 2030–50 period named the "Next Generation Tactical Aircraft"/"Next Gen TACAIR"[27][28][29] The US Navy looks to replace its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets beginning in 2025 with the Next Generation Air Dominance air superiority fighter.[30][31]
Note, of course, the direct reference to China and Russia. In fact, I would not be surprised if the F-22 is allowed to fly mostly because China last year unleashed their 5th Gen Chengdu Jian 20 Stealth:
Curiously enough, it looks like our Raptor. Yes, cyber espionage is suspected. It might be ready by 2017, or 2019, but the avionics will not be close to what we have.
So, it looks like we will be leaning on the new F-35 (Lockheed Martin, Lighting II):
...which also looks like the F-22, but is not, and cheaper, maybe:
Note that LM could afford to be ambivalent about the F-22 because they have the sole lead with the F-35. The first production model was delivered to the Air Force a year ago. Oh, I should add that this fighter was grounded only three times last year for an electrical failure, and its first flight was a dozen years ago. So let's not only get after the F-22. Comparing the F-22 with F-35 for stealthiness:
The U.S. Air Force, in it’s effort to get money to build more F-22s, has revealed just how “stealthy” the F-22 is. It’s RCS (Radar Cross Section) is the equivalent, for a radar, to a metal marble. The less stealthy (and much cheaper) F-35, is equal to a metal golf ball. The F-35 stealthiness is a bit better than the B-2 bomber , which, in turn, was twice as good as that on the even older F-117.
I might add that the fleet of 2,456 F-35's over the next 25 years will cost over $1 trillion. It never ends, does it? The Navy hopes to soon take delivery, but still has the reliable McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) F-18 Hornet, which was introduced onto the deck nearly thirty years ago:
The Blue Angels fly them.
Just so that you do not get lost in the game of air war, we also have the F-15 Boeing Eagle (once McDonnell-Douglas, with a 100-0 combat fighting record), which will be on active duty into the mid 2020's:
However, as long ago as 2007, all were grounded for a short while for maybe being too old. Some of them are 30 years old now.
Finally, the F-16 General Dynamics Falcon, which is active, still in production, and serving in 25 other air forces around the world. This plane has one tail:
The Air Force Thunderbirds use the F-16. Remember now, the Naval Blue Angels fly aircraft with two tails, while the Air Force Thunderbirds fly a jet with one tail. Not to be left out, the Falcon was grounded in 2003 when one crashed, and this was hardly the first time, for in 1979 structural failures appeared. Do you want to be military pilot?
There are many problems with the F-22 Raptor, but I'll only mention two, with a solution. All these years, with all those wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and perhaps even Libya, the F-22 has yet to see combat action. To quote these sources:
Both the Air Force and Lockheed Martin said the reason the planes have yet to fire on any enemies is because they're designed to dominate the air against rival, sophisticated air forces or air defenses, not a small, poorly armed third-world militaries and insurgent groups.
As former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said:
...the F-22, to be blunt, does not make much sense anyplace else in the spectrum of conflict.
The simple solution? Abandon this plane as quickly as possible. There is absolutely no need for the F-22. It is an expensive embarrassment and even Senator John McCain, a former pilot (left with his father, who was a four star admiral), has been quoted to say that he does not think the F-22 will ever be involved in the combat it was designed for, " because that threat is no longer in existence." So what do you do with 187 of them? SEND ME YOUR IDEAS.
Ah, then, are we through with war into the future? Ha..ha...ha... The competitors for our 6th Gen are Boeing (left) and Lockheed (right):
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