Fixing the Fighter Gap

[Amsel]

The President's budget request continues the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program but would end production of the F-22A Raptor at 186 fighters while retiring 250 legacy fighters.[2] These changes will result in what is essentially a deficit between the services' fighter aircraft inventories and their operational requirements based on emerging and possible air threats to U.S. security. Finally, the budget request will have a disproportionately negative effect on the Air National Guard--particularly its ability to continue air sovereignty alert missions. As the U.S. Senate prepares to debate the FY 2010 defense authorization bill, Congress must put the military's requirements first and override the President's budget request by:

-Authorizing a multi-year procurement for additional fourth-generation fighters (either F-15, F-16, or F-18 or a combination thereof) for the Air National Guard;

-Purchasing additional F-22s;

-Encouraging sales of an F-22 allied variant to Japan and Australia; and

-Researching the viability of building a strike variant of F-22.

Congress should continue its commitment to closing the fighter gap for the Navy and Air Force, including the Air National Guard. In the final FY 2010 defense authorization bill, Congress should:

-Fully fund 20 F-22s;

-Waive the Obey amendment to explore the viability of an F-22 allied variant; and

-Ensure the F-18 funds stay in the final bill for the Navy and authorize a multi-year procurement for additional fourth-generation fighters (either F-15, F-16, F-18 or a combination thereof) for the Air National Guard.
Otherwise, America's military--as well as the National Guard--will be unable to complete their mission: protecting America.

Mackenzie M. Eaglen is Research Fellow for National Security in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation.


Fixing the Fighter Gap Facing the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Air National Guard

[vikingBerserker]

Very interesting.

[Torch]

Another possible option.PICTURES: Boeing unveils upgraded F-15 Silent Eagle with fifth-generation features-17/03/2009-Washington DC-Flight International

[Amsel]

I haven't heard of that variant. Boeing says they can upgrade existing frames for this package.

[lingo]

How many fighter aircraft does America want? Easy, the more the merrier.
How many do they need? Not so easy to answer. Of course the Military and the manufacturers will lobby hard for the obvious reasons. How many can be afforded at present? That's the real question.

[Amsel]

Being a superpower and needing to have air superiority over our peers, i would assume quite a bit of fighters, especially next generation type.

[Matt308]

Just read that the F-22 costs $44,000/hr to operate when you factor in the 6 hours of maintenance for each 1.7 hours of flying. The Silent Eagle is flying next year. I say purchase those and F/A-18E/Fs. Invest the money that would have gone into the F-22 into UCAVs like the X-45C as a force multiplier and let the F-22 manage the battlespace.

[PJay]

I assume everyone is aware of the current problems with the F-22.High-Priced F-22 Fighter Has Major Shortcomings
Seems that the manufacturer has been a bit economical with the truth.

[Butters]

The F-22 is a white elephant. Sure, when it's working right, it is the best fighter in the world, but it's just too damned expensive and unreliable. And this is after more than 20 yrs of development! The true cost of the thing is well over $300 million a pop. And for this you get a 60% serviceability rate and monstrous maintenance costs. And after spending all that money, now they're gonna have to spend another $8 billion dollars to upgrade it so that the older ones can communicate with 'legacy' a/c . And yeah, I know how wonderfully stealthy it is. About the same as any other hanger queen...

The sad part is that the F-35 increasingly promises to be more of the same. I see that 10 more of'em have recently been ordered at the bargain price of 4.5 billion dollars.. This for an a/c that was supposed to be in the $ 60 million range. My guess is that even if hundreds are produced (You can forget the '1000's' being bandied around. It ain't gonna happen), it will almost certainly have a true cost in excess of $200 million per. IOW, a typical squadron of 12 a/c of unexceptional performance, range, and payload is gonna cost around $3 billion.

The USAF and pals needs to adopt a new motto. Maybe something like the Rolling Stones song that goes, "You can't always get what you want. But if you try real hard, you might get what you need"...

Nobody needs 2-3 hundred million dollar a/c that won't work half the time. Even if they are loaded with all those super-duper ultra-fancy bells and whistles...

JL

[PJay]

I wonder if the RAM 'paint' problem will also affect the F-35.