And let us not forget that the X-45A is the prototype of a UCAV to do
SEAD. This is likely to be the ultimate answer for this mission.

"BEN FULL" wrote in message ...
Henry J Cobb.exe failed a turing test with the following:
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

I would say that, judging by past opertations by the US military, any SEAD
package whether stealthy or not, would be assisted by at least stand off
jamming. During the strikes on Serb military installations, F-117s were
operating under a standoff jamming umbrella. Operating in any environment
with an anti air threat would warrant a force protection package no matter
how good the F/A-22 is. It certainly isnt invincible.

£0.02 supplied.