Message posted by JoeinTX on May 22, 2009 at 22:15:13 PST:
Going to have to side largely with Mark here. When you combine the potential in UCAVs into the mix, the future U.S. combat air fleet is not going to be outclassed or seriously outnumbered anywhere anytime soon. The Chinese have less than 1000 total semi-modern combat aircraft between their air force and navy.......the Russians are aiming for a modern competent combat fleet of around 500 aircraft over the next decade.
The B-2 is a 30 year old design......it was rolled out 20 years ago. It was ideal for penetrating Soviet airspace in 1986 and trying to negate their infrastructure, but, today it's either too expensive or too limited against the threats we conceivably face. Not cost effective to send B-2s to drop SDB GPS munitions on Taliban forces........doesn't fly as far or carry as much as the B-52 on a "carpet-bombing" job.
The F-22 is, like the B-2, actually pretty dated today....it was rolled-out in 1990 to fight the Cold War. I would like to have a few more than 187 as it sits but those numbers are probably just gravy.
The F-35 is more a known quantity than any airplane ever developed in this country before. Quite literally, the engineers know how it will perform before it takes to the air. It is designed as an F-16/18/Av-8B replacement...........that has the power, range, and payload of the original A-D Eagle series and possesses vastly superior radar and L/O qualities. I have little worry about it.
During that time, the U.S. will have 187 F-22s, 180+ bomber aircraft, in excess of 600 SHs, in the process of building roughly 2700 F-35s for all services, still have residual Strike Eagles and late model -16s to the tune of a few hundred.........and many more UCAVs than today. Those 250 legacy F-15/16s you mentioned for retirement above are being done to free up extra funds to accelerate F-35 production and introduction............and I am 100% for it.
All major military powers (with the possible exception of Australia, oddly enough) are planning to significantly shrink their forces over the coming decade(s)...........the U.S. will maintain a slightly less than one-for-one replacement schedule for most major hardware. That's outstanding when taking all into consideration....
In Reply to: Spirit and Raptor photos posted by loopbacktest4echo on May 22, 2009 at 7:39:44 PST:
Replies: