U.S. military needs the F-22 Raptor
By Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson

Opinion 7:56 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Here’s a fact: The F-22 will be America’s top fighter/bomber for the next four decades, able to take down present and future air threats.

In the debate over funding more F-22s, the Obama administration has said repeatedly that the plane is unnecessary for fighting the types of wars America is presently waging in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But that fails to take into account the all-too-real threat posed by inexpensive integrated air-defense systems that not only exist but that are mushrooming.

Think about North Korea, or about Iran, nations run by hostile regimes hellbent on obtaining nuclear weapons and buying the next generation of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles.

For planes without the F-22’s stealth technology and supersonic speeds, it will be extremely difficult to penetrate such countries’ airspaces.

The Raptor is the only Western aircraft that can stalk such targets day and night while also piercing enemy airspace.

Here’s another fact: No other aircraft has this capability.

This isn’t theoretical. In exercises, other aircraft have proven no match for the Raptor.

No wonder. The brand-new F-22 costs $19,750 per hour to fly, instead of $17,465 for the F-15, a plane that is nearly 40 years old, and that has none of the F-22’s advanced stealth and speed capabilities.

Не знаю, насколько эти ребята понимают толк, написано уверенно
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