Question about the F-22 and cost.

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 20:26:09 -0500, Kevin Brooks wrote:

If China attacked one of its neighbours, that country would very
likely allow the USAF to base there.

If the PRC attacked one of its neighbors, none of which have exactly a lot
of geographic space to trade for the time

None? Not even Russia, India or Kazakhstan? Come to think of it, a
Chinese invasion of Vietnam, Laos or Burma would have to cross some
rough terrain. And then we get to those of China's near enghbours
separated by water...


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In article ,
ess (phil hunt) wrote:

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 20:26:09 -0500, Kevin Brooks
wrote:

If China attacked one of its neighbours, that country would very
likely allow the USAF to base there.

If the PRC attacked one of its neighbors, none of which have exactly a lot
of geographic space to trade for the time

None? Not even Russia,

Russia's got some room, but the parts of Russia that China would be
interested in are close to the border.

India

New Delhi is just a couple of hundred miles from the closest Chinese
border. Having your capital city a half hour away by bomber or
transport plane is hardly a problem nowadays.

or Kazakhstan?

About 400 miles. In modern terms, that's not far. Again, planes.

Come to think of it, a Chinese invasion of Vietnam, Laos or Burma
would have to cross some rough terrain.

But not much of it to get to the important parts of those countries, and
the whole "airplane" thing gets into the mix again.

And then we get to those of China's near enghbours
separated by water...

....as China gets ready to launch four new aircraft carriers...

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"phil hunt" wrote in message
. ..

I was under the impression that the current build number was 276,
and congress is considering reducing it to around 180. In any case,
there seems no likelihood that 400 will be built unlress the present
political climate changes a lot.

You are mistaken, the number of F-22s to be produced was 180 a year ago.
The funding for the f-22 is dollar capped and each slide in time reduces the
number of airframes delivered. The 276 number is only a fantasy some ram
participant pulled out of their ass.

The likely maximum operational F-22 airframes has fallen further over the
past year, as another year has been ****ed away.

The F-35 is a cheaper plane than the F-22, and having just one
fighter would provide savings on training, spare parts, etc, so it's
likely that for every F-22 not built the USA could afford 3 or so
F-35s.

Shutting down the line in Gerogia will not be cheap, as that was the main
thrust for going into production so prematurely. The money is pretty much
spent, whether the US builds F-22s, or not.