The case against the F-22

At $350 million per copy, the F-22 Raptor is the most expensive fighter ever built, and what's the point? Since I earlier posted a defense of the F-22, it's only fair I should look at the other side, and here it is in a nutshell:

'In summary, a vote for continuing F-22 production is a vote to decay our pilots' skills, to deny them a truly great fighter, to shrink the number of pilots and planes we can field, and to reward Congress' unending appetite for pork. Unquestionably, the new 2010 Defense Authorization bill should be vetoed if a single F-22 is added. Those members of Congress who place our nation's defenses first will support that veto.'

The writer is Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information in Washington--inheritors of the military reform movement inspired by John Boyd. Funnily enough, Boyd was the man behind the design of the F-15 Eagle, adopted during the Carter administration, and which will remain America's air-superiority fighter unless replaced by the F-22. Read Wheeler's essay here (scroll down for the full version). Blue skies! -- Dan Ford