All I see, to be frank with you, is ego's getting in the way of a discussion about this while people scream, "My opinion matters more and yours, and instead of discussing the issues you're bringing up, I'll just belittle you to the point that, hopefully, you simply leave the conversation. After that I'll continue to measure the size of my online wanger and think about how awesome I am."
Train, have you seen me do this?
Apologies if so, because that's a weak way to conduct an online discussion.
You guys are right that being a military aviator doesn't make me any more omnscient about some of these topics than the rest of you. In fact, I know very little outside my own area of expertise. I can't tell you a thing about Fish's side of the profession, to be honest.
But, since the topic is about the F-22, and I have some personal experience both with the Raptor and some of the scenarios in which the Raptor would be used, I think I've got some ability to intelligently comment on the subject.
It's not just about policy, friends. That's the point here -- there is more to the discussion than purely what policy toward this aircraft is best.
Several statements about policy have been made on here that are based on completely arbitrary statements -- arbitrary statements about what various friendly and threat aircraft are really capable of. When policy opinions are made on top of false assumptions, then they aren't worth the electrons they're printed with. That's been the most significant point of contention I've had with posts made in this thread.
This is where I think experience matters. Comments about what the Raptor can do, what Eagles and Vipers and Flankers can do, and how many of them can do it seem to be based on what's read in the media -- which does not have a complete picture of those capabilities.
Bottom line(s) are this:
- Many "rest of world" systems are on par with what the US military currently has
- Raptor represents a significant leap forward in capabiity
- New-built versions of legacy fighters are not the right answer
- There will be a loss of US military capability by limiting the number of Raptors and Lightnings built -- it's not possible to "do more with less" -- hell, it's not going to be even possible to do "the same with less".
You guys are right -- there is a reason that the military answers to civilian leadership. On the other hand, that civilian leadership has a responsibility to listen to the experts.