Well so much for Tarver being "reformed". You lasted what, four or
five days? I guess it was too much to expect for you to turn over a
new leaf.

I never made any claim that I was going to reform.

The impression I got from the other thread is that you were going to
refrain from sniping at people and grow up. My mistake.




Any way the F-22 program turns out now, I will have been correct in my
agreement with the Congressman for California that the program should
have
died in '98.

*massive eye roll* No matter how it turns out huh? Well I'm glad you
are happy in that little fantasy world you've constructed for
yourself.

They are not enough F-22s to be cost competitive in an era of reliable
airborn weapons delivery platforms.

*IF* they get the full 277 they will have more than enough. From an
air to air perspective go read up on how many F-15Cs were used in
Desert Storm. You also have to keep in mind that *reliable* and
*effective* are not interchangable. An F/A-18E would be virtually
useless in delivering LGBs or JDAMs against an S-300 site. Yes, I'm
aware that's why they'd use JASSMS or JSOWS *but* we're talking air to
air here. That same F/A-18E with AIM-120s fighting a Su-30 with a
competent pilot and AA-12s and possibly KS-172s in the future would
NOT be in for a fun time. So is requiring three or four F-18Es to do
the job of one F-22 cost competitive? Remember you have to add in the
cost of maintaining and manning those three or four Hornets in
addition to the fuel and aerial tanking they'd use. It's not simply a
matter of saying "the Super Hornet is cheaper and it's reliable, let's
buy it instead."




The airplane is already on the wrong
side of the 2000 mil-spec procurement break.

The F-35 is going to have to do the job, outside some USAF
F-18E buy.

The USAF would buy more F-15s before they'd buy any "Super" Hornets.

Gephardt is retiring, the USAF's options have been reduced.

The F-15 is still in production. There are still those in the USAF
who are smart enough not to go NEAR the Super Hornet when they've got
the choice (the USN didn't) so it doesn't matter if Gephardt is
retiring.