The Only Thing Keeping the F-35 Lightning Relevant Is the F-22 Raptor

[unhappycamper]

http://gizmodo.com/the-only-thing-keeping-the-f-35-lightning-relevant-is-t-1515758033



A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth. The term derives from the story that the kings of Siam (now Thailand) were accustomed to make a present of one of these animals to courtiers who had rendered themselves obnoxious, in order to ruin the recipient by the cost of its maintenance. In modern usage, it is an object, scheme, business venture, facility, etc., considered without use or value.[1]

The Only Thing Keeping the F-35 Lightning Relevant Is the F-22 Raptor
Andrew Tarantola on Gizmodo
Tuesday 6:40pm

Even if they are primarily just cheap knockoffs, China's rapidly growing fleet of next-gen aircraft are poised to seriously challenge American air superiority in the coming years. To prevent that, argues Chief of U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command Gen. Michael Hostage, we'll need plenty of fifth-generation fighters of our own—no matter the cost.

During a recent interview with the Air Force Times, Gen. Hostage laid out his position for upgrading the current block of F-22 Raptors, a single-seat dog-fighter, even if it comes at the expense of older legacy systems such as the A-10 Warthog and the U-2 Dragon Lady:

If I do not keep that F-22 fleet viable, the F-35 fleet frankly will be irrelevant. The F-35 is not built as an air superiority platform. It needs the F-22. Because I got such a pitifully tiny fleet, I've got to ensure I will have every single one of those F-22s as capable as it possibly can be.

What's more, even were the F-35, which is utilized for air-to-ground attacks and reconnaissance missions, defended by modernized F-15 Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons, as Air Force brass has requested, it wouldn't be enough. "If you gave me all the money I needed to refurbish the F-15 and the F-16 fleets," he continued, "they would still become tactically obsolete by the middle of the next decade. Our adversaries are building fleets that will overmatch our legacy fleet, no matter what I do, by the middle of the next decade."



[i[]unhappycamper comment: Our $418 million dollar F-22s were built from 1996 ~ 2011. But they cost $418 million a pop.

The F-35 is a White Elephant (see above).