Should the USA cut the F22?

pacer

Too expensive my ***, and look at the jobs it provides to Americans:

"American Jobs, National Security, and Billions of Dollars at Stake
Preserve F-22 Raptor Production

I urge Members of Congress and the new Administration to take immediate action to release funds already authorized to continue production of the worldâ€™s most advanced fighter aircraft, the F-22 Raptor. Keeping the production line of this model aerospace program open currently requires no additional taxpayer dollars, and is not a rescue or bailout. Rather, it will allow us to maintain a healthy program that delivers considerable economic benefit while providing our Air Force with appropriate numbers of the best fighter aircraft ever made. Production of this aircraft is in jeopardyâ€”and with it more than 95,000 American jobs, over $12 billion in national economic activity, and the superiority of America â€™s Air Force."

http://www.preserveraptorjobs.com/

send the prez a note there to release the already approved funds for the needed F-22

Billy11B

Penny wise and pound foolish - we need to continue to develop military weapons so we are ahead of our foes.

harry k

He just following in the footsteps of his protege --- Jimmy Carter. If you remember Carter cut the B1 and Reagan had to restart the program.

By 2012 we will have double digit unemployment, double digit inflation and double digit interest rates and I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't have 47 hostages being held in Iran either.

Captain Falcon

WTF!? NO! Thats like the best fighter plane in the WORLD!

Mr Puma

In my opinion, President NÃ˜BAMA is going to get a lot of innocent people killed. He's been in office 60 days and still hasn't filled his cabinet. He is closing Gitmo and all these know terrorists are going right back to what they were been doing before they were captured.

puppetstring_prophet

I agree, Ollie.

ShadyL

Yeah he's nuts

Thomas SR

Obama has probably never heard of nor seen the Russian's new Berkut fighter. We NEED the F22.

lconnor65

This is why I really don't care for a president that has no military experience.

He has to much on his plate and trying to fix things over night and I think in the end it will be more of a mess than what we are at now.

TomT

You likely will recall that Clinton balanced the budget largely at the expense of the military. It's the first place liberals look when needing money for more social programs. Obama is even more deeply into that category than Clinton. ...and yes, he's out of his mind because we're going to need everything our military can get when his "soft diplomacy" with Iran and other countries fails.

Bee Bee

What do expect from a man that's hell bent on destroying America. He is crazy.

doug

Yes, he is. Not only will the companies developing the aircraft have to layoff so will their suppliers. Unmanned aircraft can not supply close ground support as safely *** a manned aircraft. The autopilot on from Continental flight in Buffalo proves that.

some dude

So much for creating and/or saving jobs.
So much for being as much as a pacifist as possible, since better technologies saves lives and keeps our troops (though not completely but largely) away from an unscathed battlefield.

zola

He is Low Tech!

texastag16

Yes Obama is a nut case. F-22 are hands down the best fighter in the world, and he does not want us to have them....sounds fishy to me...

Roderick B

I think that his agenda Requires that we become as militarily vulnerable as possible in the time he has available!
For all the loss of critical military technology; the F-22 program still gives us a qualitative advantage re other (hostile) countries' military. The loss of this program, or halting it at this time erodes that advantage. As near as I can tell, we are at nearly 40% under strength in available aircraft in this program, and almost 65% in total combat air power. In logistic support, we are at or near 22 months behind on asset availability.
What timetable Is he working on? Who's timetable is he working on? And what are the contents of that timetable?

Wow. No he shouldn't. That's a very key and great high preformance fighter jet. I think it's idiotic if he does.

shjOlds_442

We already know that BO hates our military as all liberals do. So what he's trying to do comes as no surprise.

Yet, Congress did away with the F-14 which is far better than the F/A-18 and much faster.

Alex S

The program is too expensive and should be cut. But there's a little
catch with that. We would have no immediate replacement for the
F22s and the planes they are supposed to replace are aging rapidly.
The bottom line is: If we terminate the F22 program we will be 2nd
class for quite some time. And that's not a very good idea when it
comes to air superiority. I wouldn't really see a problem with being
behind the Europeans for a while but with the upcoming versions
of Russian and Chinese interceptors I don't really see a bright
future for our current in service planes. And those are being sold
to potential future enemies. If we would have a qualified replacement
I would support it. But since we don't it's a decision that could backfire
big time.

level4

No. The fleet of F-16' s is old and should be replaced. This will not only increase our national security, and upgrade our military, it will create real jobs. Not only does it create jobs at Northrop or Grumman, but all the parts manufacturers and suppliers benefit as well. When more people work, more people spend, and this in turn will help retailers and restaurants etc. This is real stimulus. A fleet of new green cars for politicians, or new windows in schools is spending, and creates very few real jobs.

Douglas

I've heard varying reports as to the exact cost of the F-22, ranging from $190 million, to $300 million a pop.

There is no question that this would be world's best air-superiority fighter. But it will have nothing to fight. It will sit in hangers collecting dust, just as 40+ units of F-22 have done for years, all though 8 years of war.

This is just not a sound investment. For the cost and maintenance of one F-22, we can field an entire infantry brigade! And infantry brigade can lay downb far more firepower that one F-22 and nothing beats boots on the ground. We saw what the surge did. If only our leaders had realized that numbers do count when we first invaded Iraq, my bet is that the whole Bush legacy would be different.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter costs less than half what the F-22 does and has many similar capabilities. It represents a fair compromise on price and abilities.

I'm not advocating staying with all old equipment, but I think we have to be more efficient in our spending. There's nothing more efficient when it comes to fighting wars than a well trained and equipped US Soldier or Marine. Let's spend our money on them.

hint0122

NO. we may need it.

Dr.House

I agree 100%
The F-22 is the best fighter plane in the world right now cancelling is pretty dumb. He already cut the military budget and now no more f-22's? Why not sell the old ones to some countries and build more f-22's.

The perfect air force: f-22's, f-35's and b-2's with b-52's nothing can beat that.

Nick M

I love Raptors and I would much rather have a Raptor than see an AIG Exec get a multi-million dollar "bonus". Obama and his wall street cronies have lost their minds.

Lance

While I definitely agree this man is out of his mind....(I give you the example of him wanting everyone that is seriously injured coming back from Iraq/Afghanistan to cover their own medical expenses) he is just like every other Democrat we have had (Clinton) with Military cut backs.

I think he is out of his for a few reasons....we have Air Supremacy...keep it...we dont have a whole hell of alot of anything else....our ground forces are strong...prideful...and eager to fight...but as you can see we are not like our WWII predecessors...we cant go the long fight nor do we have the desire to.

Through the air we can still achieve the "Shock and Awe" we have adapted to...but even that I believe is short lived as other countries get used to out TTP.

I support anything that gives us the Technological advantage and the Victory no matter how marginal over those that are trying to kill us. If money is an issue I believe AIG has some much needed money that we can take back.

But there is more on the cutting block than just the F22 program...check out www.ArmyTimes.com to see just how much he is trying to cut back on the Military while seeming generous on projecting a 2% raise the next year.

Future Political Prisoner

Why not cut it? He doesn't have the balls to use it, anyway.

Richard A

although i am very reluctant to support anything that man developes in an effort to find new and more efficient ways to kill each off and not spend the amount of money needed to cure diseases and solve the problems which exhist in the world today which have been around for years, i am reminded about world war two. before the war broke out our country had asumed the posture of isolationism which required the US to develope a crash program to strenghen our weakened military forces and most likely ended up causing many more lifes then necessary to be lost and the war to be as long as it was. in this day and age it is a dangerous policy to weaken our means of insuring the security of our country. having said that i think the program should not be cancelled or the unemployment rate will sky rocket. for every job lost in the program approximately three others (not based on fact just speculation) jobs will be affected which support the program. what makes better sense is to put a moratorium on future programs until our economy is more stable. it is a shame that the powers to be who approved the program of spending 354 million dollars per aircraft couldnt find it in their heart to spend the amount it will ultimately cost the taxpayer on research to cure aids and other deceases and problems that exist today.

Perro De Lava

We have 100 + of them already. With that in mind I do not think we need anymore. If the rest of the world is so far behind us in this type technology then what is the point in having so many of these jets.

And our current jets and aircraft are doing well. We have way to many aircraft. Are these F22 fighters really necessary in the amounts they want to build them? I say no. We need only a few of them to maintain our air superiority.

My point is simple. If he doesnt cut this program then he will make cuts elsewhere in the military. I wish we can have 1,000 of these jets, but right now this isnt the best thing for us. Like I said, we already have over 100 of those jets in the fleet.

Of course many who answer here will only see the words OBAMA and CUTS and will automatically assume he is wrong..

I guess we should build these jet fighters in excess, and by doing this the troops will not get a raise for the next 5 years, or will have less gear in the field.

smsmith500

Its a plane without a clear mission. We should reduce the program.

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