Comments by "Thetequilashooter1" (@Thetequilashooter1) on "" video.

I think “on paper” the F-22 will be retired, but it will available if needed. I never expected the F-117 to come out of retirement. While it officially hasn’t, there are a few that are now flying. The reason why the F-22 production run was cut short is because at the time the US was involved in two expensive wars at the time, and the F-22 wasn’t needed for either one of them. The US has air superiority over Afghanistan and Iraq, and the F-22’s abilities weren’t needed for these conflicts. The F-22 is far better than any adversary aircraft. It’s primarily issue is that it’s been in service already for nearly twenty years, which is a long time to keep a fighter in service, especially an aircraft like the Raptor that undergoes heavy g-loads.
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@donkoh5738 No, it was simply because the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were extremely expensive, and the F-22 wasn’t of any value to fight the Taliban or the Iraqi insurgents. The money was needed elsewhere. It’s simple as that. BTW, it’s electronics had a plus that the Chinese didn’t know the programming language. It’s power was equivalent to two Cray Supercomputers. One thing you’ve heard Raptor pilots boast about is its situational awareness. Another attribute that they like is its sheer power. It’s engine power of 70k lbs of thrust was and is still unmatched. I remember writing to my Congressmen and none of them used your reasoning for cutting the program. In addition, despite the fact that the F-22 is scheduled for retirement, it’s still getting upgrades, even to this day.
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@donkoh5738 The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were totally relevant. Believe what you want, I could care less. The F-22 program was cut short primarily to assist the funding of the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan (which in the late 2000s saw a resurgence). Around the same time the F-22 was cut for example, $50 billion in MRAPs were procured to protect US forces from IEDs - the F-22’s R&D + procurement program cost about $60 billion by comparison. The cut in the F-22 program specifically (rather than other programs) was justified by a few reasons: * The F-22 was designed to fight the USSR, which no longer existed. * The F-22 is a multirole, but is primarily an air superiority fighter with fairly limited air-to-ground capabilities. Air superiority is important, but is not what fighters are used for in most wars over the past half-century. In fact, it wasn’t used in combat until Syria where it had an air to ground role, although there were less expensive platforms that could get the job done just as well and at a lower flight hour cost. * The F-22 was / still is the most expensive fighter the US has ever fielded. * It was known that China and Russia were working on their own 5th gen fighters, but it was expected that they would be 15+ years off. * F-35 was never intended to replace the F-22 and as such, the F-22 will continue to fly alongside F-35s until the 2040s (or longer). Instead the USAF has been working on a next-gen air combat platform that is expected to enter service in around the early 2030s and eventually replace the F-22. You won’t find one credible source that supports your opinion. When the F-22 entered service its avionics were considered state of the art, and its engines were well known for their power. They allowed pilots to make mistakes because their power could recover energy very quickly. It’s the one thing that Rafale pilots marveled at when dogfighting against the F-22 in UAE.
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@donkoh5738 This is a common theme that you can find by doing a simple Google search. The F-22 was canceled because America didn't need a stealth air-superiority fighter for the War on Terror The Air Force originally intended to purchase 750 F-22s to develop a robust fleet of stealth interceptors for the 21st century. But as the United States found itself further entrenched in counter-terror and counter-insurgency operations against technologically inferior opponents, the need for advanced dogfighters became far less pressing. Source Business Insider, Why the US can't just start building more F-22s. It makes sense. You’re trying to make more out of it. Here’s more. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was most responsible for the termination of the F-22 program. His reasoning in 2008: The F-22 had no place in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This contention dismisses the notion that the U.S. military should prepare of wars of necessity — the ones that can literally change our way of life and destroy our nation — and focus instead on wars of choice that, while long and expensive, are not existential. The United States has not fought a war of necessity for decades. The purpose of the F-22 was to ensure the Joint force could reasonably ensure air superiority in these wars. Trying to make a connection between this and a terrorist plotting an attack from a remote cave in Afghanistan is irresponsible at best. Source War On The Rocks, OUT OF TIME: DO NOT REVIVE THE F-22. There are many other articles that support what I’ve stated. These are just the first two listed.
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@donkoh5738 Unlike you I supported my comment’s with various sources, and there were many more. Your comments are based on unsubstantiated personal opinion, which is of little value. In fact, I tried finding sources that backed your arguments, but there aren’t any. Facts are that when the F-22 was developed it wasn’t really needed for the wars that the US was involved in. This is supported not only by numerous articles, but from each of the congressmen (John McCain was one of them) that I wrote to asking that they keep the production lines running. In hindsight, I am glad that they stopped when they did. The US can now move onto 6th gen platforms.
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