The U.S. government has been roundly criticized for procuring three different types of fighter aircraft: the F/A-22 Raptor, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and the F-35A/B Joint Strike Fighter. Indeed, no other nation is attempting to procure large numbers of even two fighter aircraft simultaneously.
Enthusiasm for all three types might wreck the budget in ten years. If one of the three must go, it should be the most expensive and the least flexible: the F/A-22. Like the now-canceled Crusader self-propelled howitzer, it is an excellent weapon, but the wrong one for the wars that the United States is likely to fight. There are four problems with the F/A-22:
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