Ed Rasimus wrote:
On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 07:35:27 -0800, Henry J Cobb wrote:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRe...d=108-03312004
...

The F/A-22 is the only fighter able to autonomously counter
anti-access threats on Day 1 of a war and thereby open the way for
other US forces.

So is SEAD a near-term or a long-term requirement of the F/A-22 program?

SEAD, by it's very definition is a long-term requirement for tactical
air operations. It isn't linked to an aircraft, but to a mission. Air
defenses are designed to deny an attacker access. They can be
surface-to-air assetts or air-to-air assetts.

The stealthy pentration capabilities certainly indicate an ability to
operate "autonomously". Your statement (from observation of your past
bias) seems to be asking if "autonomous" means without other
supporting systems. And, the answer is that on Day 1, the Raptor can
penetrate the enemy air defenses and insure first, air dominance and
second minimal effectiveness of surface systems.

Don't fall into the "yesterday's war" syndrome of thinking that SEAD
means Weasels, or SEAD means F-16CJs, or SEAD means stand-off jammers,
HARMs and chaff dispensers. It simply means what the words say,
suppressing enemy air defenses.

Sorry, I was too terse again.

Will the F/A-22 be required from day one to be able to track hostile
ground air defense assets and drop bombs or launch HARMs at them or will
the SEAD mission be handled by other platforms until 2012 or so?

If the "Weasel Raptor" development is delayed or canceled will the
F/A-22 itself still worth buying as strictly an air-to-air platform?

Also is F/A-22 stealth good enough to fly over say North Korea's air
defenses unaided or will every "first day of the war" mission require
jammer support and if so when will the United States military ever have
a stealthy jammer? (This isn't quite as silly as it may seem. A
stealthy jammer is seen only when it's active and only on the
frequencies it's jamming.)

-HJC