It was designed for a war with the USSR which we are not now going to have. The only thing that kept it funded was Congress, for Porky reasons. The Pentagon no longer wanted it, nor did anyone else, but it was being built in 43 different Districts, not by accident.
Its an air superiorty fighter. There are no nations in the world we will fight a large scale conflict with any time soon, what NATO countries need are multi role aircraft that are at home performing ground support or air-air combat.
It may be ultra-sexy but it is just not needed.
The F-22 was NEVER used in Iraq or Afghanistan. One major problem was the maintenance required for every hour of flight. These might be nice birds in the sky, but they spend so much time being serviced on the ground, they’d just get bombed sitting on the tarmac. The maintenance is also very expensive.
I have given up trying to figure out wtf he is doing. I find him to be as arrogant a leader as Bush just more subtle. Nobel Peace Prize. God it makes me ashamed to be Norwegian.
I miss Bill.
If this wiki article is true, then Obama’s decision is justified by all means. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22_Raptor
It says its going to replace the f-22 with the f-35.
But if the F-35 doesn’t offer better air defense than the F-22, I would question President Obama’s decision.