quicksilver wrote:zero-one wrote:
Its nothing new, I always thought and continue to think that the Raptor is overkill in sheer capabilities alone.
Congratulations. You’ve proven Secretary Gates’ case.
I still remember some of the news reports during 2009, there were 3 main reasons why the Raptor order was curtailed. According to the reports:
1. It was irrelevant for the "realities of warfare" which were now against insurgents in caves with no air force to speak of.
The Armed forces was starting to move away from "cold war mentalities" and was moving more towards a COIN (Counter Insurgency) force. (10 years later, we have a new cold war)
2. Russia and China were well behind in their 5th gen programs and 180 Raptors with support from F-35s would be capable of decimating the RuAF or PLAAF (I actually think they were correct with this assessment although it would take longer and casualties will be higher)
3. Recession. IIRC the order was cut to 187 in 2009 at the height of the Recession.
So it wasn't mainly because the F-22 was overkill, although people did take that into consideration and it was a contributing factor.
Frankly I believe Gates and the Obama Admin never wanted to cut the F-22 buy, I believe there were long, tense meetings and debates about this and they tried their best to save it if they could. But with the economy the way it was and with the foucs on Iraqistan type conflicts, something had to give.