F-22 deployed to southwest Asia.

[Coito ergo sum]

I thought they canceled this program: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/us-deploys-f-2 ... 54971.html

Did they just make some fighters and cancel the rest of the program? This is the best fighter plane in the world. I'm glad to see the US has at least some of them in service.

[Animavore]

I dunno but I heard Tom Cruise is making a new Top Gun movie

[Coito ergo sum]

I wonder how they will characterize it. In the original Top Gun, the US was portrayed as the underdog, with fighters that were slower and less maneuverable than the "enemy MiGs" and with pilots who had lost their dogfighting skills.

Now, the only folks who can keep up with the US in the air are our friends.

[Animavore]

I dunno but I'm sure it'll have a montage.



Maybe space aliens.

Although considering it's a sequel and Tom Cruise is starring it might be something like Space Cowboys.

[maiforpeace]

Ani, is there any instance in life that you can't relate to with a movie?

[Animavore]

I don't think so

[maiforpeace]

I don't think so

*Insert famous Animavore eyebrow raise here*

[Svartalf]

Isn't the F35 supposed to be better than the F22, to the point they aborted the latter program in favor of the former?

[Clinton Huxley]

Isn't the F35 supposed to be better than the F22, to the point they aborted the latter program in favor of the former?

I heard the F35 was a dog.

[Coito ergo sum]

My understanding is that the F-22 Raptor is stealthier than the F-35, and that the F-35 is designed more for air-to-ground, while the F-22 is an air superiority craft with capacity to fight air-to-air and also deliver some air-to-ground munitions -- like JDAMS which can be held inside its belly to maintain stealth.

The F-35 is a joint fighter, too, and its going to be used by other nations, whereas the F-22 is pretty much going to be a US only property.

I think, but I'm not sure, that the F-22 can super-cruise, but the F-35 can't. I'm not positive, though. Maybe somebody can clarify.

Overall, I think the F-22 is supposed to have an edge.

[Clinton Huxley]

At $150 million each, you'd hope so...

[Coito ergo sum]

According to Maddow's evaluation....deploying these craft is akin to murder... listen to this chick... if the plane has the critical faults and fragility that Maddow says it has, then isn't it extreme negligence to deploy it?



She closes with -- "The only conceivable reason we would ever have to use these planes, is if we would sell them to other countries who might want to use them against us someday."

Meanwhile, we're deploying them.

They are expensive, but when someone like Maddow paints things like this as so utterly useless and ineffectual, as she did here, it's pretty much a sure bet that it's pretty good. She could have ended her case at the immense expense associated with the project and each plane. She didn't have to pretend that it's the equivalent of a paper airplane that can't hardly fly and spends more time in the hanger than in the air. Overkill.

[Clinton Huxley]

Aircraft take so long to develop these days its no surprise if the adversary they were designed for no longer exists by the time they deploy. It's the same with the Eurofighter. Originally conceived as an RAF requirement as early as 1971, for dogfighting with the Roosians over central Europe. Didn't even start to go into service until after 2003 and is still not fully deployed.

I reckon these are the last generation of piloted fighter aircraft....