September 29, 2012 at 10:01 pm
after reading a recent article that US Presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised to re-open the F-22 Production line. although the idea is farfetched and highly unlikely to happen, i have been having a couple of questions on this idea.
first:
in performance, the F-22 is far superiour to the F-35, but while the raptor has the edge in air combat abilities (maneuvrability, armament,…) the F-35 makes up for in terms of systems and avionics. now the F-22 is not that old, but when you look at both aircraft, its clear that the F-22’s avionics setup is outdated (multiple screens, no IRST tracking, JHMCS (not that i know of) or decent A2G capability (strike ability only limited).
the question is, how feasable (if affordable) would it be to incorporate some of the F-35’s advanced 5th Gen features into the F-22?
with Russia and China now building/developing/testing equal aircraft, the Raptor does need a few improvements to cope with these possible future threats.
of course, with newbuild raptors, the upgrades could be build in on the assemblyline.
second:
from what ive heard, reopening the F-22 production line would cost at least $900 million USD. but the question is, how many aircraft will need to be aquired to justify the production restart (i heared between 300 to 750).
and would it not be more interesting for the US to lift the export ban on the F-22, or at least offer a modified/stripped down version for export. would be interesting as the JASDF has long expressed interest, and buying F-22’s of the shelf would be cheaper then developing an indigenous 5th Gen stealth fighter (ATD-X ShinShin). but since Japan already ordered the F-35, a raptor buy seems unlikely.
back on topic, and question, the first F-22’s costed about 150 to 200 million a pop (quite equal to the current F-35A now), how much would a Raptor cost if the production was restarted, and will this have any influence on the numbers of F-35 the USAF is planning to buy?
in a personal opinion (although im not a US citizen, and have no say in the matter):
i think its a good idea. the USAF F-15C/D’s are still good aircraft, but these aircraft are really becoming outdated, not just in capabilities and avionic systems, but also in service life. some of the airframes i heared are already flying on borrowed time. in my eyes its like fixing a bicycle tire, you can patch is up a few times, but when its nothing but patches, its time for replacing. same goes for the F-15, spending billions on upgrading them to last about 5 longer seems like money down the drain.
F-22 production restarting is expensive i believe yes, but it does bring several advantages.
the USAF would have enough raptors to replace the F-15C/D and not only that (not to get political), it could also create more Jobs, something thats very much welcome in the current economic climate in the US, more jobs is a better economy, new raptors could create jobs for at least 10 years to come.
the export oportunities are are also good, even if its a stripped down version, countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Japan and Israel would be interested, maybe even Canada (concidering the range the F-35 has to cover).
i know its seems like pure fantasy, its just a thought, an F-22 revamp might not be a bad idea.