
Originally Posted by
michaeld1adm
Hey guys, Just wanted to add a few things,
1st of all i've been a military researcher for many years with particular interest in air-superiority fighters.
As for why the F-22 production was cancled, heres my take on it.
1st, It was not cancled, they just decided to stop production, why? 2 reasons
1. Its not that the F-22 is not good, its actually the oposite, when Congress asked why it was so expensive, Lockheed Martin, gave the capabilities, some of them top secret
after doing so, a study with the pentagon determined, that a fleet of some 100 raptors will be enough to establish air-dominance anywhere,
The U.S. doctrine since World war two was, "to be able to wage 2 large scale wars at the same time"
But after the financial crisis of 2009, this was reverted back to one
As a result the initial order of F-22s were cut, then cut again, and cut some more,
2. After the fall of the USSR, not many nations can chalange the US in the air, in the wars in Iraq 2003 and Afganistan, there was'nt a single dog fight, but aircraft focused mainly on bombings, so Congress saw the need for, "the perfect air superiority fighter" as useless.
Also Congress learned that the little brother of the F-22, the F-35 is also a fearsome dogfighter, dont beleive the haters who say, it cant turn, because it can, infact pilots say that it can turn better than a lite F-16, even when it has bombs in it, the teen sereis fighters have their strengths, listed below
F-15 : known for the E-M theory, it can maintain speed through a tight turn, very important in a dog fight
F-16 : known for its very tight turning,
F-18 : known for having one of the best pitch rates and slow speed handeling capabilities, very agile, especialy at slow speeds where most dog fights occur
According to pilots, the F-35 can do all of the above, just a lot better
So with that in mind, and with the F-35 being more useful than the F-22, because its multi role, unlike the F-22 that is specialized for air-air combat, (yes I know it can drop bombs, but not as well as the F-35)
Congress decided to simply go for the F-35
But to say that the J-10 and PAK-FA will surpass the F-22 is unfounded, many of the charactaristics of the F-22 remain topsecret, even things like, Top-speed, maximum sustaind and instantanious turn rates,
When the F-22 came out, Russia said their latest Su-30s and its variants can beat it, but according to recent reports, Russian Officials were very concerned about the Raptors capabilities, they were also concerned at how precise the raptor was executing its maneuvers at airshows (This came from Russian pilots themselves)
This is why ther are pushing for the PAK-FA, but as it is now, the PAK-FA still lacks engine performance, RCS reduction and sensor fussion, but ofcorse, its still under development, so lets wait and see,
However, plans are already being made to upgrade the Raptor, rumors are even going around of an F-22E Super Raptor, but like I said, its just a rumor
P.S, im not an American, so im not spreading propaganda
Mabuhay