>Build the most advanced fighter known to Man
>never use it
>it becomes obsolete because it's literally 40 years old
>don't upgrade it
>throw it away and build a new fighter from scratch
What was the point?

>>63806307 (OP)
To live so rent free in the minds of the United States' enemies that they bankrupt themselves to build a counter to it while Skunk Works already has an even better fighter ready to go

>>63806307 (OP)
>point
Tech and experience for the f35. Similar to how tech and experience from the f117 eventually lead to the f22. Also gives your engineers and scientist something to do.

>>63806307 (OP)
Si vis pacem, para bellum

>>63806307 (OP)
>>don't upgrade it
Except they have, through the successive production blocks. Not all 187 of them were made the same, later ones had more goodies

>>63806307 (OP)
People hate on B2 and F22, but have you seen RAH-66? Now that is something that could actually be useful design today. Provided it's stealth didn't require the same expensive maintenance as the F22s.

>>63806307 (OP)
>finally gets HMD
>its a fucking 3rd party budget solution originally developed for helicopters
what the fuck?

>>63806364
>Provided it's stealth didn't require the same expensive maintenance as the F22s.
All stealth requires expensive maintenance, that's why thirdies like Russia and China don't have it.

>>63806307 (OP)
It was the last of the "high / low" procurement cycle.
Now they have realized it's cheaper to just build one multirole and get economics of scale instead of continuing the high / low system in the face of ever increasing development costs.

>>63806307 (OP)
The F-22 was designed for air superiority against a peer threat. That threat never became a shooting war during the service life of the F-22. Unlike the F-15 and F-16, the Raptor can't feasably be adapted into other roles. You could say the same thing about our ICBM's. Better to have it and not need it.

>>63806307 (OP)
>What was the point?
to make noise, literally. these things are so damn loud. i remember being stationed at pearl harbor years back and hearing these things come in for a landing at hickam. much louder than any other air force plane i heard in those days, except maybe a c-5.

>>63806307 (OP)
I'm curious what makes you think the F-22 is obsolete? It has better RCS than the F-35 with a similar radar design (the APG-81 is essentially a slightly upgraded miniaturized APG-77) that has a larger antenna. It's not the newest and greatest but it is the most capable aircraft for air to air in existence right now to this day. The only real significant downside of the F-22 in air to air operations is that it has to use Link 16 to communicate with AWACS.

>>63806307 (OP)
>What was the point?
To take the place of the F-15 in a theoretical cold war that continued through the 90s and 2000s. It lost its raison d'etre with the fall of the Soviet Union.

>Build the most advanced fighter known to Man
>have nearly uncontested air dominance for (at least) 40 years
That's "the point"

>>63806450
for one the abysmal range of action
t. not OP

>>63806307 (OP)
>build a weapon so powerful that nobody ever dares to attack you
>/k/ considers it a failure

I love kino just like everyone else but I mean that seems like the most success you can possibly have.

>>63806383
expensive and careful

>>63806714
Then what are the nukes for??

>>63806307 (OP)
It was invented by Aliens. Now the Aliens are gone.

>>63807166
well judging by what's happening in russia and with the pakis and jeets it doesn't seem like nukes deter shit anymore.

weapons?

>>63806393
What do you think the NGAD is if not the next high, anon? The only thing that's slightly breaking the cycle is that now you can just have drone loyal wingmen to carry A2G munitions for you if you want your air dominance plane to conduct strike operations.

>>63806312
>they bankrupt themselves to build a counter to
Literally who?

>>63807293
no

>>63807293
What the fuck do you think a fighter jet is, you mouthbreathing homonculus?

>>63807519
I mean Russia isn’t doing particularly great financially.

>>63807307
NGAD is so far off it'll be the F-35 replacement.

>>63806307 (OP)
Because to be on the cutting edge you have to continue lying be making new and better shit, you can't just sit around and wait to make better shit when the need arises.

>>63806307 (OP)
>obsolete
How is it obsolete?

>>63809314
Well probably the part where all the production equipment has been mothballed for decades and all the original designers are getting senile

>>63806307 (OP)
>30 year old aircraft
>still more advanced than anything the russhits or chinks can field

>>63806307 (OP)
>Dunks on China, Russia and every other thirdie revanchist power for decades without ever firing a shot, simply by existing and being an order of magnitude better than anything that has ever even been conceived of outside of the US
>Will remain an eternal point of butthurt for seething chinks and browns a hundred years after the last post on our Indian Street Shitting Forum fades into the ether
>This is considered 'obsolete' and not an unmitigated victory for so completely buckbreaking the third world that they didn't even both to challenge it for a generation

If you have to ask, OP, then you're a faggot.

>>63806337
This and more importantly
>>63806345
this.

>design and build an aircraft for the Cold War so advanced that the USSR is forced into having to expend resources beyond their capability
>the USSR can't so they pivot and throw all their resources into AA and SPAAG systems
>the USSR collapses before the plane is needed
it's literally that simple.

>>63809059
A plaen

>>63809067
I don't think Russia is bankrupt, or spent any money developing a counter to the F-35 kek. They're stuck in the 80s, and they're contents with that

>>63806714
The best sword is the one which never leaves its sheath or something like that

>>63806307 (OP)
You can be certain that F-22 turned out to be an absolute lemon which couldn't fly, simple as.

>>63809758
SU-57

>>63810350
Yes all 12 of the pieces of trash are already inferior to an off the line of 1000+ f35, because they rely on 80s tech.

>>63809797
>couldn't fly
>OP is pic of plane flying
What did anon mean by this?

>>63806450
its so old that it cant into network communication with the f35 or f15ex for tagteam dogfighting. I mean on 1v1 it can slap any chink or slavshit junk, but it cant play with our new kids on the block
her only glory days ahead is airshows for drunk college kids and boomers on florida beaches

plus its so old airframe fatigue its basically at its endlife structurally. its 30 years old, nintendo 64 and this plane were rolling off the assembly line at the same time. shes tired

>>63812638
>the airframe is tired
How often does a unit rarely put into ground attack and air patrol stress the structure, really?

>>63809326
>all the original designers are getting senile
they're brains will be harvested and made into an american c-consciousness, designing weapons of death for eternality

>>63812870
every time it goes up really high where it's cold and comes back down where it's not cold causing the frame to contract and expand

Balloons fear this thing
Maybe aliens too

>>63812968
*makes irrelevant biplane noises*

i wanna see an f-22 modified to be like the steak eagle where it's stripped down for high speed record breaking. it'd be awesome.

>>63806312
>while Skunk Works already has an even better fighter ready to go
retarded boomer myth

>>63813186
The skunks works ideas didn't always work out in real life.

>>63813186
>retarded boomer myth
Wasn't the existence of an operational craft called the YF-45 accidentally brought to light a little while back when an officer who had worked out in Nevada did a fucky-wucky on his resume?

I don't know if it's a fighter, per se, but it would seem like something is in the works out there at Groom Lake and/or Tonopah.

>>63810356
Yeah, they’re still trying to catch up to the F22

>>63813186
Boomers loved the idea that the military was secretly hiding space alien shit because it sounded kooky and fun, even if literally every war in history proves that never happens.
The only shit that is hidden is spyware.

>>63809067
>I mean Russia isn’t doing particularly great financially.
They've never been doing great Financially even when the Soviet Union was at its peak

>>63809067
Not out of trying to recreate F-22 kek

Their problems with Su-57 stems from their systemic problem as a country as a whole (dead manufacturing industry, dead electronic industry, dead semiconductor industry). Even countries with half decent semiconductor industry like Turkey managed to produce a 5th gen aircraft even though in term of aviation industry Russia had them beat

>>63813496
They didn't go bankrupt doing so. It's at best a technology demonstrator

>>63806408
If the stealth is so superior, why not use it as a bait to find enemy radars and missile launchers? Then it would work as something else than air superiority. Stealth off for them to find you, stealth on to evade radar. Idk if the F-22 has anything that could make it more visible though, like the bomb bay door of the F-117

>>63806307 (OP)
>never use it
>it becomes obsolete because it's literally 40 years old
I think making a plane and having it be the most advanced fighter out there for 40 years (and thus not having much to use it on aside from dunking missiles on sand people since no one even wants to try) sounds like a good success story. How long do you expect cutting edge state-of-the-art weapons to stay so?

>>63806307 (OP)
>What was the point?
To make the sexiest plane ever and to let the world know

just like how we threw away all those F-18s and F22s

>>63806307 (OP)
the f22 was already EOL the moment it came out
cockpit from the 80s
mmc from the 70s
radar components from the 70s
plate from the 80s

honestly if it didnt had stealth design nobody here would have cared one single bit

>>63815323
It also only has medium range missiles
no IRST
is designed to dogfight with gigantic control surfaces, lmao
it even has a fucking gun, can you believe it

>>63806307 (OP)
Because they then decided they want a jet that can do cas and be carrier capable and whatever else new electronic glowie shit. Simple as that nothing else too it.

>>63806312
>already has an even better fighter ready to go
Nigga you best not be implying the F-35

>>63813641
Erm ackshually we know of quite a few secret weapons in history that were only begrudgingly made public because of operational exposure. They just usually aren't very interesting, like the Israeli ATGM carrier disguised as a tank.

>>63813641
Ane how about the blinding white pencil beam of light that smoked a technical in Iraq, charring absolutely everything inside and leaving the outside perfect?

>>63817257
Any documentation better than an AboveTopSecret thread?

>>63812638
>it cannot into network communication
This is an advantage in the era of cyberwarfare, making the F22 invulnerable to "hacking."

>>63813641
shut the fuck up barry.

>>63809597
This. It’s often forgotten that the F22 is a Cold War weapons system. It was designed to combat a theoretical Soviet 5th gen that never ended up existing.

>>63806307 (OP)
>it becomes obsolete
HUH?

Do poos really?

>>63817936
>extremely public
>secrecy is only around what its spying on and how

>>63817057
Is the F-35 one fat?
It must be fat.

>>63806307 (OP)
It’s fucking awesome, that’s why.

>>63806373
kinda funny that they have the same HMCS that the mb346 (a trainer) will have on the block 20 update

>>63812638
>nintendo 64 and this plane were rolling off the assembly line at the same time.
The F22 surface also has the same number of triangles as the average game object of a N64 game.

>>63818972
No, just autistic

>>63806408
>Unlike the F-15 and F-16, the Raptor can't feasably be adapted into other roles.
It's combat debut was dropping JDAMs over Syria

There isn’t a point, which is why all 6th gen programs are the walking dead.

>>63806307 (OP)
>tfw no retractable pylon gf...

>>63823035
I spent the entire 2000s thinking the Comanche got accepted and was about to show up on the frontlines.

>>63812638
The F-15EX cannot use MADL. Regardless MADL is not really that useful outside of very localized area air superiority because it only has a relatively short line of sight range. F-35s can realistically only communicate with each other using MADL, any network centric dogfighting is going to be using modernized Link 16. F-22s can receive Link 16, they can also communicate with each other similar to MADL by using IFDL. Obviously it would be nice to be able to transmit Link 16 instead of just receive it, but it's not exactly necessary given that F-22s are not going to be used to transmit radar contacts to distributed systems anyway and instead will be doing air to air directly. They are also being upgraded to transmit Link 16 anyway though so if that becomes necessary they'll be able to do that too

To be fucking sexy. S E X Y.
i want to FUCK this aircraft.

>>63823035
>>63823197
>Only viable in Command & Conquer Generals
> Generals 2 gets axed too
Truly, awful timeline

why was the operating hour cost so high on 22 it's like 70k or something. fuel i could understand being in the high 20s but 70 seems extreme. is that due to recoating?

>>63828431
it's the cost of the drug cocktail needed pre- and post- flight for f22 pilots to stop them from flying towards asia