On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 09:00:26 -0800, Mary Shafer
wrote:

On 4 Jan 2004 14:13:53 -0800, (Henry J. Cobb) wrote:

http://globalsecurity.org/org/news/2004/040104-f-22.htm
"They're just trying to find a role for this plane because they've
sunk so much money into it," Riccioni said.

Ed's a nice guy, but he's spent his lifetime advocating light-weight
fighters. He was an original member of the LWF mafia, back in the
pre-YF-12/YF-17 days. He's just a little biased on the subject.


The combination of Riccioni, Pearson and a clueless reporter leaves
the entire article garbled into senselessness for anyone in the
fighter business.

How can they be trying to "find a role" for an airplane that has been,
from the first release of RFP, a dedicated "air dominance fighter"
replacement for the F-15? What's so damning about initial 1-v-1
engagements with F-15s in which the Raptor starts in trail or the
Eagle starts in trail--these are standard 1-v-1 setups. You will
probably also see shoulder to shoulder same way and shoulder to
shoulder opposing initial setups.

Riccioni's comments on A/A missile failures read like someone who's
been in a time warp since the '70s. And Pearson's fumbling comments
about the effectiveness of stealth indicate a possible Rip Van Winkle
period during Desert Storm.

Don't know that we could accuse Riccioni of being LWF Mafia, it sounds
like he was much more Eagle than Viper and definitely not F-5 over
F-4. The Mafia were much more centered on the operational side of the
house than development.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8