UPDATE 1-U.S. fighter jet crashes, program questioned

[stevedeshazer]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jet crashed in the California desert Wednesday, the Air Force said, coming at a time the Obama administration is deciding whether to extend Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N)'s F-22 production line.

The decision on the production line is due in a month or so as part of the White House's detailed fiscal 2010 budget request to Congress.

Lockheed has said it plans to start phasing out its supplier base unless President Barack Obama opts to buy more than the 183 F-22s currently budgeted.

The aircraft, designed to be the world's top dogfighter, went down about 35 miles northeast of Edwards Air Force Base, where it had been based, the Air Force said in a statement. Edwards lies in the Mojave Desert, adjacent to Rogers Dry Lakebed, the largest dry lakebed in North America.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN2544825720090325

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It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration responds.

[Idealism]

1. How many millions of dollars just blew up in the desert?

[marketcrazy1]

2. How many millions of dollars just blew up in the desert?

about 136 million dollars each, I love this aircraft but the cost is obscene!! you could get 4 F18 super hornets for the same price... on the other hand, this aircraft will virtually guaranty U.S. air superiority for the next two to three decades at least.............

[Idealism]

3. Doesn't the UAE have F16s that are comparable to the Raptor?

At like, 1/10th the price? F16C's or something?

[Pavulon]

4. No, F16 was designed when Jungle Boogie

was released. 1974 ish.

[Idealism]

6. Here, its called the F-16 (E or F) Block 60

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article22.html

[Pavulon]

23. Still 1970's design

time moves on.

[marketcrazy1]

5. there is NOTHING in the sky

that can compete with F22...... with it`s speed, weapons, targeting and maneuverability, it is unmatched by anything in the air today..... but the COST!!

[Idealism]

7. Actually, check the F-35B Lightning II out

http://www.milavia.net/aircraft/f-35/

[Posteritatis]

20. That's not "in the sky" yet and won't be for several years (nt)

[lapfog_1]

22. I remember when a very early prototype of the JAST

was first tested on the Jet engine test stand at NASA Ames.

Being classified at the time, they kept the entire thing shrouded... and I swear it looked like an Alien Spacecraft covered
with a curtain. They were testing STOVL capabilities... almost as loud as the Harrier on take off.

For those that want to google it, the test stand is located at the intersection of DeFrance Ave and Arnold Ave on base.

[razors edge]

10. Su-37

The thrust vectoring on an F-22 doesn't even compare to the Su-37, not that it matters anywhere but the air shows.

Both aircraft were built only to increase sales of existing, approved for export designs, not engage in actual combat.

Your tax dollars at work, for the MIC.

[Idealism]

15. Russian made aircraft won't receive a warm reception by the USAF, me thinks.

Some people, especially the old military apparatus, still have the Cold War mentality.

[razors edge]

18. Russian components

American components, no difference!

All made in Taiwan!

(or something to that effect from the movie Armageddon)

[Idealism]

19. Still has the red star on it, no?

[Pavulon]

24. Yeah, hit up janes

not comparable, not the same aircraft, thrust vectoring is not helpful if you do not see something before it kills you. In the case of the f22 that is designed to do just that, over the horizon.

[Posteritatis]

21. F-16s are intrinsically incomparable to the Raptor

Gaming the things out so far, ten, fifteen to one odds are considered a fair fight between the two. There's a gulf there that can't be bridged with 1970s aircraft.

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. $90m

Found this:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/july-dec99/f22_9-20.html

1999 article : FUNDING THE F-22

May cost even more now...

[razors edge]

9. Air superiority.

Like in the kind that ensures superiority over foreign resources, or the kind that stops hijacked airliners from crashing into our largest buildings?

I'm curious about your fascination with these devices and their viable applications.

I was in love with fighter aircraft design in my youth, but four years of servicing F-4s on the flight line every day does put a buzz kill on that whole Buck Rodgers mentality.

[Spoon]

11. You know, if the world economy continues to collapse

and nations start to get jumpy, like WWII runup Great Depression style, we very might need those F-22's.

[razors edge]

13. For what?

To keep Cheney's house from danger?

You don't seriously think they would spend money to protect the poor in this country do you?

Without massive loss of life from a foreign attack the masses can't be jarred away from the TV.

Edit: Jarred away from the the TV is probably the last thing they want. Quivering in our own piss soaked undies would be more like it.

[Spoon]

14. I know I sound like a doomer here, but to protect ourselves

if the rest of the world falls into chaos. Unfortunately human history is riddled with such episodes.

[razors edge]

16. You don't sound like a doomer

as much as a scared realist.

Ask yourself, why would the rest of the world want to attack us in the first place?

I'm pretty sure a lot of Germans asked themselves that same question back in the first half of the last century.

Hitler came up with some pretty impressive state of the art aircraft and weapons when he saw his Reich faltering.

The support of his people to build them didn't stop the inevitable then, it won't stop it for ours now.

[hunter]

25. They'll come to take our oil! No wait, we used it all up.

They'll come to take our jobs!

:wtf:

It takes two fighting planes to flight, and whatever happens in modern warfare, most of the nasty takes place on the ground by people with hand held weapons and explosives. Or child soldiers and sticks and rocks and machetes and rapists if things get really bad. The "rain of death" from the sky is sort of incidental.

World War II happened a long time ago, and even that wasn't particularly high tech. Most tellingly every conflict since World War II has been a low technology meat grinder. We could probably cut the U.S. military budget 90% tomorrow and actually enhance our national security.

[razors edge]

12. Kill the program.

It will never be funded without Chinese financing and reciprocity.

Build some schools and hospitals instead.

[Cali_Democrat]

17. Amen to that. (nt)