"John Cook" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 01:58:12 GMT, Scott Ferrin
wrote:



The reason is that the usefulness of the system is degraded as fewer
aircraft are bought.

There is a point at which even a brillient system becomes marginal
when so few are brought into service, However the massive cost
remains the same.

How many would you consider adequate for the USAF..

150 is a joke, so choose a figure higher than this that is still worth
the cost..
Its difficult isn't it...

Not necessarily. The number that has been bandied about (180) would allow
around six squadrons to be fielded, along with with attrition, training, and
test aircraft. That would, given the likely air-to-air threats we can
currently envision, be sufficient to ensure our ability to apply airpower in
any likely required scenarios, withthe F-35 bulking up the force. We have
managed to do quite well with only one wing of F-117's for a number of years
now.

Brooks