Another "praise the Raptor" article

[jmcquate]

Meh..............Boeing needs the money.

 

[RedFive]

Having read the article I do find it funny that the AF (seems) so very stuck on the F-15. It is like the Navy keeping F-8’s because they are cool, and hey, just hang another sensor on the wings! My understanding from folks I know working close to the political power pellet is that the A10 is only kept alive by a few strong political hands in halls of Congress.

They shutdown F-22 production after 180ish jets. The original order was 700-800, I don't remember the exact figure. Because we were entrenched in the sandbox and not focused on more capable adversaries, we didn't see the value in continuing their production.

The purchase of additional F-15s is a band-aid meant to fill the gap between now and when NGAD comes online. It's cheaper in the long-run to field new F-15s since the production line is still open (for international orders) than it is to ask Lockheed to reopen the F-22 production line which has been shuttered for a decade.

I'm sure there's more nuance to it, but that's the nuts and bolts.

 

[Potatomasher]

Lockheed was also instructed to destroy all the tooling and fixtures so that they could be reverse engineered. That certainly adds complexity to reopening a production line

 

[Flash]

They shutdown F-22 production after 180ish jets. The original order was 700-800, I don't remember the exact figure. Because we were entrenched in the sandbox and not focused on more capable adversaries, we didn't see the value in continuing their production.

I'm sure there's more nuance to it, but that's the nuts and bolts.

The USAF leadership repeatedly going behind SECDEF's back to Congress to grease the skids for more F-22's while blowing him off on more direct support to the war effort really didn't help them at all. Ranks up there with the Army saying around the same time that there wasn't a problem with the mold-infested rooms at Walter Reed.

Lockheed was also instructed to destroy all the tooling and fixtures so that they could be reverse engineered. That certainly adds complexity to reopening a production line

No, the tooling was specifically preserved though how well is a good question.