Forum: F-22A Raptor

I've personally seen at Langley a F-16 chase bird with a -229 take off, circle the field and a F-22A from a stop out accelerate it...pass it...and both pulled into the verticle. You could literally see the Raptor accelerating away from the Viper. He is a good man but I think he thinks he has to defend the F-16 when in fact no-one is second guessing it. The accout I speak of took place sometime around summer 04-05..cannot remember which. Anyone else that saw it could possibly comment on the time frame.

-Check

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Have you seen the list of the top 5 priority programs for the USAF, the F-22 isn't on it. It's program is considered stabilzed. Wonder what that means. It's on the AF news website.

vinnie wrote:

Have you seen the list of the top 5 priority programs for the USAF, the F-22 isn't on it. It's program is considered stabilzed. Wonder what that means. It's on the AF news website.

That's strange, recently Boeing proposed the F-15E+ Super Eagle as a next generation strike aircraft should the F-35A be delayed or should the USAF choose to update their current Strike Eagles. When he heard of it Gen. Moseley was quoted as saying something to the effect of "I like the idea but my current top three priorities are the F-22, F-22 and F-22." Cool

PhillyGuy wrote:

vinnie wrote:

Have you seen the list of the top 5 priority programs for the USAF, the F-22 isn't on it. It's program is considered stabilzed. Wonder what that means. It's on the AF news website.

That's strange, recently Boeing proposed the F-15E+ Super Eagle as a next generation strike aircraft should the F-35A be delayed or should the USAF choose to update their current Strike Eagles. When he heard of it Gen. Moseley was quoted as saying something to the effect of "I like the idea but my current top three priorities are the F-22, F-22 and F-22." Cool

Don't get our panties all tied up in a bunch, people. F-22 funding is secure for the next three years. The USAF desperately needs new tankers. This is a purely political decision. The USAF has decided it has done a good enough job of educating Congress about the F-22 such that it is fairly confident it will get as many Raptors as it wants eventually. Now, it has to educate Congress about the need for other programs such as tankers, new satellites, a new bomber, etc. So, relax. The USAF hasn't given up on the F-22. If anything, it has done an excellent job of not only bringing Congress on board the F-22 bandwagon, but of getting Rumsfeld out of the way of the program. The USAF ought to be congratulated for a job well done (and, of course, LM as well).

Elite 1K Joined: Aug 19, 2004 - 09:19 AM Posts: 1092

Idesof... I swear I can't believe you. Why don't you go to a political forum and vent about how much you hate Rumsfeld. Like I told you in another thread just a minute ago, I'm going to start reporting you to the mods if you continue with your OT political rants.

Raptor_One wrote:

Idesof... I swear I can't believe you. Why don't you go to a political forum and vent about how much you hate Rumsfeld. Like I told you in another thread just a minute ago, I'm going to start reporting you to the mods if you continue with your OT political rants.

How in the world is it off topic to discuss the fact that the SECRETARY OF DEFENSE attempted to first, kill off the RAPTOR program and, when he did not succeed, sought to curtail it as much as possible? If you are a Republican and a Bush apologist and are upset your party is about to get trounced at the polls don't take it out on me. Me thinks thou dost protest too much.

Elite 1K Joined: Aug 19, 2004 - 09:19 AM Posts: 1092

idesof wrote:

Raptor_One wrote:

Idesof... I swear I can't believe you. Why don't you go to a political forum and vent about how much you hate Rumsfeld. Like I told you in another thread just a minute ago, I'm going to start reporting you to the mods if you continue with your OT political rants.

How in the world is it off topic to discuss the fact that the SECRETARY OF DEFENSE attempted to first, kill off the RAPTOR program and, when he did not succeed, sought to curtail it as much as possible? If you are a Republican and a Bush apologist and are upset your party is about to get trounced at the polls don't take it out on me. Me thinks thou dost protest too much.

Okay... I'm reporting this post of yours. And no... I'm not a Republican or Democrat. I am not registered with any political party. I am registered to vote. That is not important though. You've really crossed the line with your hate-filled comments.

According to the AF news site the top priority is now a new tanker, I guess he has changed his mind on the 22

Active Member Joined: Nov 22, 2004 - 09:20 PM Posts: 134

vinnie wrote:

According to the AF news site the top priority is now a new tanker, I guess he has changed his mind on the 22

The article might not be telling the whole story on the discussion between the USAF and Boeing. For instance, Boeing might have originally suggested supplementing the currently limited number of F-22s with upgraded F-15s, but when the answer--in the context of air superiority fighters--was "F-22, F-22, and F-22," the idea of providing a stopgap for F-35s in the strike role came up. The latest news about a tanker now being the top priority has nothing to do with the F-22, as the latter is no longer fighting for its very survival as a program and will likely be procured in greater numbers in the future.

vinnie wrote:

According to the AF news site the top priority is now a new tanker, I guess he has changed his mind on the 22

Vinnie,

I wouldn't read too much into the article, rather just as it says. If you read too much into it, that's when the deep analyzing comes in that can lead to all sorts of things away from the original message.

Bottom line is this doesn't mean the F-22 is not a priority anymore, rather it is stable (for the USAF, LM, Boeing, P&W, all the subcontractors, etc) for now and allows the USAF to refocus on other priorties for the time being. That's all.

Raptor_One, I agree one should not make political comments on the board. But if we can talk about the people who made this magnificent aircraft possible and kept it alive, we should also be able to talk about those who tried to kill the program. Just my opinion.

Yea no offense Raptor One, but I thout that idesof's mentioning Rumsfeld was much more relevent to the raptor program than his political opinions... didn't really feel the hate either...

Forum: F-22A Raptor

Interesting series on F-22 at Defensetech.org