champpitbull2

Maybe they should rethink closing that F-22 line.
Pentagon's future fighter aircraft doubles in cost - CNN.com

Boeing 787 fan

If and I mean If the F-22 line comes back on line what will the marines and the navy get a modified F-22?

gospodin

There was never a Navy version planned, and definitely no VTOL version ever mentioned.

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Steve







It's possible that the whole purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others...

N708DN

Actually there was once a a navalised F-22 in the planning books but it got scrubbed by the F/A-18 Super Hornet but who knows now it may come back to life because of the F-35 JSF getting more expensive then the F-22

SuperKungFu

Yea I remember reading about the F-22B or F-22X which was meant for the NAVY but it never got off the drawing boards...these were like the early concepts:

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airplanenut5588

Lockheed should be penalized for this. The whole logic of stopping F-22 production was that the F-35 was going to be cheaper. Except or the VTOL version, the F- 35 is a less capable fighter aircraft then the F-22 especially in terms of aerial combat. I think that the Air Force should tell Lockheed to go do something with itself and buy F-22s instead. I know its never going to happen as it would make the F-35 even more expensive.

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SuperKungFu

It seems to me this happens....ALL THE TIME...when politics gets involved. As soon as we start cutting numbers of a particular aircraft being produced, the price of each plane jumps. Remember the B-2? Originally we were planning to build 200 of those bad boys, but we got around to 20, and the price jumped to 1.3 billion each. Same thing with the F-22, and now the F-35.

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N708DN

It's kinda depressing isn't it, and it seems that since WWII we've lost focus of our military the last great plane we built was The BUFF (aka B-52)

b747dude

I think the F-14 was a pretty nice a/c also. I heard it was retired because of the air fame and the Phoenix missile was retired?

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SuperKungFu

The F-14 was retired because the maintaining the aircraft became too costly. Especially that swing-wing design, so the hornet now carries on the torch.

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N708DN

Your 100% correct but now that the USN may not get the F35 what will they do. Get the F-22 (if the line reopens) or use the F/A-18 alone however if this does happen there's a gap between the F/A-18 and F-14 and the SU-33 has weapons that can be fired from BVR and the F-18 will have to go nose to nose

CitationDrvr

Whereas the F/A-18 E and F Super Hornets fill in a niche in air superiority, and the E/A-18G Growler has taken on the 'wild weasel' role, let's not forget the other Navy program that is spooling up...the X-45B UAV.

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champpitbull2

Well here is some good news. F-35 Hovers for First Time - Defense News The F-35 will be built. It's importance will outweigh it's costs because of how many air forces depend on it's creation. It's not going to be as good in a dog fight as an F-22, but it will fill the multi-role mission much better. It's extremely important for the US and its allies to be able to field an aircraft as technologicaly advanced as the F-35. If an air war were to break out right now, F-22's would probably take the lions share of air-air duties. Having allies equipped with the F-35 will allow the US to share the burden as well as create a bigger deterent for any war to start in the first place. Walk softly and carry a big stick. My point is that when they decided to cut off funding for the F-22 it was because of how expensive it was and it was constantly compared to the F-35. Well, depending on what cost you believe (the sources and prices vary depending on what their agenda is) The price per plane is as close as 15 million. The 180 F-22's are supposed to fill the role now occupied by over 500 F-15's. The F-35 is going to be in production for a long time. There are already close to 1,500 on order with many air forces that already fly the F-16, projected to jump on board as well. The USAF could build 100 or more Raptors now and build those 100 or so F-35's later. In my eyes the F-35 isn't as critical now because the air to ground mission being carried out by F16's, F-18's, A-10's and AV-8B's is doing fine and is unchallenged. It's in the air-air role that these planes may be out matched by newer Russian built planes such as the SU-27 family. (Su-27,30, 33,34, and so on. These planes are becoming more and more prevelant across the globe and are sought after by countries that western nations won't sell arms too. In short, I just wish the USAF would buy more F-22's.

N708DN

I agree with that the USAF DOES need more F-22s and I wish the Navy did buy some

gospodin

Actually, the Weasels have always been Air Force, and the F-16 fills that role right now. The Growler is a stand-off ECM aircraft, though it does have weapons capability. It's doing what the EA-6B Prowler used to do for the Navy. The F-35 is going to be the next Weasel, and probably the best. But the UCAV programs are getting a lot of attention, and may be the way we go in the next 50 years...no more dead pilots.

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Steve







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