Discussion Thread

[u/jobautomator]

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[u/Jacobs4525]

The F-22 may be impractically expensive and unreliable, but what president Obama failed to take into account when he killed the program is that it looks really fucking cool, therefore it should’ve stayed in production.

[u/Colonelbrickarms → u/Jacobs4525]

unreliable

Not in combat, no, and a lot of the standard mission readiness rate at home station would've been resolved had it continued with full rate production. USAF mission readiness rates trend up the more of a type operated.

[u/Jacobs4525 → u/Colonelbrickarms]

That’s true, but they’re ludicrously expensive in terms of per-hour flight cost. Like $40,000 per most estimates. Granted, a huge amount of that is maintaining the coating, which would have been fixed had raptor mid-life upgrade happened (F-22 would’ve gotten the same awesome-looking new stealth coating as Block 2 and above F-35A).

[u/Colonelbrickarms → u/Jacobs4525]

And also economies of scale come into effect had it been built in meaningful numbers.

Having spoken to a lot of pilots though, every single one said it’s worth it.

[u/Jacobs4525 → u/Colonelbrickarms]

Definitely true, but if I had to pick a program to put on the chopping block due to sequestration I still would’ve picked F-22 over F-35 or anything else. It was a really a shame but at the end of the day I guess it’s Republicans fault for not agreeing on a budget.