Is America assured air dominance for the foreseeable future? Russia thinks not.
Last week's first-ever flight (Russian T-50 video clip - 2:14) raises the prospect that in the 2015 - 2017 time frame Russia will begin deploying a fighter that will become the first non-US Fifth Generation fighter--a genre featuring stealth technology, supersonic cruise and total battlespace awareness. (Here is one online source for the five generations of fighters that have been deployed since the first military jets flew during World War II.) Russia will buy 100 of the jets, while India plans to buy 200.
The US has built the world's first two 5th generation fighters, the F-22 and the F-35; the F-22 went operational in 2007, while the F-35 is set for around 2014 initial service. An AEI piece notes that in the US, more F-35 delays seem in store, and thus doubts are increasing as to progress of the F-35 program. This strongly suggests that ending the F-22 production line was a premature, risky move. The author notes that over the next decade some 2,300 US earlier generation jet fighters are to be retired, to be replaced by 187 F-22s and 1,763 F-35s. Defense analyst Dan Goure warns that 150 operational F-22s (not all 187 will be flying at one time) could find 1,000 Russian T-50 fighters facing them, with numbers trumping quality.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that SecDef Robert Gates has ordered a future study on joint targeting weaponry needed 20 years hence:
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered the Air Force and Navy to study what future joint weapons system, available 20 years from now, will be able to surveil an enemy target, survive any electronic interference, and then deliver precision strikes from platforms that either penetrate the foe's defenses or are launched from a distance.
The WP article merits a full read.
Bottom Line. Betting the company on maintaining air dominance with one plane whose technologies are not anywhere near fully tested, and whose performance in clearing the skies will be markedly inferior to the demonstrated capability of the F-22 is foolish for a country whose far-flung military operations depends critically upon complete control of the skies over target areas.
Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Foreign Policy
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