The Air Force, due to budget cuts, will not have the economic capacity to purchase a sufficient number of F-35. Consequently we are considering the purchase of 72 fighter between F-15, F-16 and F / A 18E / F. Considering the upgrades, F-15 and F-16 will remain in service at least until the 2045.
The data released by the Air Force are clear. It emerges that the acquisition plans do not coincide with the real economic capacities. The Air Force was planning to buy 48 F-35 in the 2019. Supply destined to grow with 60 F-35 in the 2020 and 80 in the 2021. By the end of the year, the F-35 line destined for the Air Force will close with 28 aircraft delivered. In 2016 they should be 44. In total the Air Force expects to have something like 2038 F-1763 in line, within the 35. From now on it appears evident that this production rate cannot be economically sustainable either because of budget cuts or the platform's leavened price compared to the budgeted one. This means that F-15 and F-16 will remain in service longer.
300 F-16 and one hundred F-15 of the cell modernization and extension program are already underway. At least until the 2025, the proposed strategy of the Air Force provides for the massive use of F-15 and F-16 for low-end tasks. The 72 new aircraft purchased will take the place of fifth generation platforms, reserving the only high-end missions for the F-22. It is clear that those 123 Raptor they are far too few to guarantee optimal levels of presence in crisis areas around the globe in twenty years.
One of the biggest mistakes in Pentagon history
The only fighter from the planet's aerial domain, the F-22 Raptor, it was built in exemplary 186 only, but only 123 are converted to combat. The rest of the fighters are classified as inventory machines, intended for testing or off-duty activities. The main problem is that the Air Force, considering the current threats and the contexts where the presence of a fifth generation platform is needed, would need 382 Raptor.
The question is purely numerical: the first fighter in the world for which the term "aerial dominion" was coined, cannot be everywhere. The United States has six F-22 operational squadrons, but these are undersized compared to other combat units. The standard American squadron is based on 24 aircraft (F-16 or F15) PAA or Primary Authorized Aircraft and two in inventory BAI O Backup Aircraft Inventory. The five squadrons Raptor fighters have online 21 aircraft plus two in BAI. The only squadron Raptor of the National Guard, based in Hickam, Hawaii, is composed of eighteen F-22 and two in inventory. The situation becomes even more dramatic considering that theAir Force Weapons School, in Nellis, has only thirteen Raptor for qualification. Due to the cut in funds, almost entirely for F-35, the Raptor will not receive full integration with the AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120D AMRAAM at least until the 2017.
Postponed to 2020 the integration with theHelmet Mounted Cueing System. On the helmet of pilots and navigators are projected various information such as height, speed and equipment. The helmet is connected to the sighting system and allows the pilot to frame and launch a missile on an enemy target using only the sight. Even this capacity, designed as standard equipment of the F-22 and that would make the most of the AIM-9X has failed. Despite this, the Raptor it is confirmed as the best fighter in the world, even if in a large-scale comparison it would pay dearly for its small number. Not to mention, finally, that some AIM-120 might not even hit the target in an era when active electronic warfare is making giant strides. The only real enemy of the Raptor it is therefore numeric: i Raptor, they are and will always remain 123.
By the 2038, the Pentagon expects to buy 2457 F-35 at a cost of 400 billion dollars. The entire program, current estimate, will cost just over a thousand billion dollars.
(photo: Lockheed Martin)
