Why the fuck does Biden and the woke Air Force want to "retire" F-22's?

[KrakenAttackin]

As a former F-18 driver who has a good idea of what the F-22 is capable of, what the hell is going on?

First, there was this bullshit about "they broke the molds so we can't make any more F-22's"... huge bullshit. Than the Air Force said "we can't update all the networking requirements into the F-22'S", also bullshit. As an example all of the F-18's and F-16's (and presumably F-15's as well) have been rebuilt nose to tail at least three times with updated equipment. Now the emphasis is on the pig of an F-35. The F-35 is NOT a great dog fighter, it does have very good stealth, but can't turn for shit (relative to an F-22 or F-16). If the Air Force said they wanted "commonality" I could at least grasp that, but to spin this web of bullshit about obsolescence of of F-22's really books my blood. The F-22 Raptor is a pure killing machine unlike any other ever devised.

Updates

11 mo

We only had 186 Raptors to start. A hurricane destroyed 8-10 and a few have been lost in training. We need more Raptors not less.

[Anonymous]

I'm not an expert but the US military is replacing a lot of equipment and the F22 is like 30 years old. It needs updating to the level of the F35, so rather than update or build more. There have been few built so very hard on the airframes, maintenence and replacement parts.

I believe they are planning to replace it with the next generation stealth fighter while looking for a mass produced replacement of the F15. The F35 is good enough but its more of a replacement for the f15 & F18 rather than the air dominance or air superiority fighter the F15 was and its overall price and performance is hampered by the VTOL requirement of the F35B, whereas if the navy and airforce were able to build modern aircraft based on their requirements they would have much better capabilities and likely cost less. They will keep them air worthy and just mothball them until needed again, they did this with the F117 and quite a few aircraft even the venerable F4 Phantom with many examples capable of being pulled out of the boneyard.

[Stevepro68]

If you are an f 18 driver you know how fast tech ages. Numbers matter as much as superiority. F 35 has a better avionics suite lower maintenance ram. Better non radar detection and survival. The next gen fighter program will be better than restarting the f22 manufacturing line which will soon be behind the curve. If the US has unlimited military resources then yes making 900 f 22 would have made sense. The next gen fighter will be everything we learned so far plus innovation the f22 doesn't have. Not sure what the F woke has to do with any of that.

[ohsheeT]

I'm sure that we have something better now but at the same time knowing our government is because of greed if they retire them then they can sell them to somebody who eventually will probably use them against us but I agree with you I don't think that they should be put in storage even the F-16 is still one of the baddest asses planes around

[Likes2drive]

Same reason they don’t listen to us drivers at work with trucks that are worse or better whatever is cheaper for them to buy and conforms to federal regulations is all they buy, they never drive in them

[jshm2]

It's about cost, dumbass.

You've only seen the front end of what goes into a project. The backend is always where the most cost is. Parts, labour, workforce, supply etc etc. To maintain a project it costs money and resources, which you are always looking to move onto better and most cost efficient.

F22's can't fire modern systems, nor can they use modern comms. also the pilots and engineers are mostly close to retiring. There is near fuck all to "upgrade" on it without taking from modern budgets.

Also, F22 from what little I've read on them are flawed. Plus they are susceptible to Russian sunburn missiles, making them a flying coffin.

[RealMarek]

There is something to the supply chain and production excuses given the declining manufacturing base in the West, but to understand what is really happening, just follow the money. It makes the decision to retire the F-22 while continuing to produce the F-15 explicable: basically, Boeing has good lobbyists. And the F-35 is a pig, but it’s a very expensive pig that makes the military industrial complex a lot of money. This is why the new head of the joint chiefs of staff is advocating to use the F-35 for everything, including even the close ground support role that had been filled by the A-10. All of this tells me that the goal is not to seriously prepare for a real industrial-scale war, but is to keep the contracts flowing.

[DarkWinterNights]

With them replacing all of our battle tested equipment and weapons, and giving tons of ammunition and gear to Ukraine, I legitimately think if it came down to a war between Russia and/or China and the US and NATO, we would not fair very well.
Our military leadership is biased and corrupt and our over-reliance on increasingly problematic and unproven technology is going to backfire.

[Andres77]

When the "leader" of country is owned by the enemy... craziness will ensue.

[Lliam]

No idea.
Government incompetence is certainly a factor. So is the desire to continue feeding the military budget and arms manufacturers.

I don't think dog fighting is a thing anymore. You don't dogfight with rockets and missiles.

[msc545]

The only reason anything like this ever happens is in order to generate more money for the defense industry by having them build yet another fighter plane that is never going to be used.

[exitseven]

Somebody up on the food chain will make a ton of money selling F-35s to the Air Force.

[Wise4myage]

Biden, making America less safer every day.

[Fuentes]

Well Biden is special needs

[Jmmmfi4]

Probably expensive as fuck

[KrakenAttackin]

Test

[KrakenAttackin]

Hey! I'm out of the GAG penalty box!