5. Buy foreign?

Not a hope, but out of interest - if forced to which would the US
prefer Typhoon, Rafale, or a Russian jobbie.


Out of those options IMO since none of them are stealth aircraft the
best way to go would be to start with a gutted Su-37 and stuff it with
American engines, avionics and weapons but chances are even if the US
could make itself do that, by the time they were happy with the
aircraft it would be damn near as expensive as the F-22.


Ideally the best replacement would have been new build Tomcat 21s but
there is no chance of that now.

Typhoons and Rafales seem like nonstarters for the simple reason that
whatever aircraft is chosen would also do air to ground. Let's see
you hang a 5000lb PGM or two on either of those aircraft. Sure you
can go on about small bombs etc. but it's tough to duplicate the
flexibility of being able to carry a heavy load.