Home Overview Today on the Hill Why F-22?   • Air Dominance   • FAQ   • Modernizing GOVERNMENT - Why the F-22? Stay the Course “This aircraft is too complex to maintain and operate. It’s too expensive to buy ­ four times the price of our existing fighters.” That quote is not from 2001; it is from 1970. The United States Congress is moving to kill the F-15 program, claiming that the aircraft is too expensive. The F-15 was proposed as a result of our experience in Vietnam, where our pilots were at severe disadvantage due to enemy surface-to-air missiles and fighters operating from protected bases. During the Vietnam War, which saw the destruction of 1,700 U.S. combat aircraft, the Pentagon learned that only a survivable, dedicated, air dominance fighter can guarantee control of the sky over future battlefields. We could not and cannot afford another Vietnam. Despite controversy, the F-15 finally entered service as an air superiority fighter in 1974 and went on to serve extraordinarily well in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the Kosovo conflict. Ironically, its performance there is now cited as the main reason why the F-22 (an aircraft also being called "too expensive to build and too complex to maintain and operate") is not needed. In the ever-changing world other powers are advancing the weapons in their arsenals; most particularly, the Russian Su-35, the Eurofighter 2000 and the French Rafale. And, yet, the F-22 faces opposition continuously from those who seem not to learn the lessons of history. Remember that in designing and producing the F-22, we are all doing something that has never been done before. The F-22A Raptor is the world’s first stealthy air dominance fighter. There is always criticism and controversy in these situations. The point is to keep wholeheartedly to the task at hand, for the end result will ultimately refute the criticism and silence the complainers. This is not a new situation for the F-22 partner team. In 1999 alone, a watershed year for the project, there were over 350 television, print and radio stories done from July 12 (zero production funding) to October 12 (funding resolution language released). For the most part, the F-22 program was characterized fairly in some news stories and most editorials. However, many of the positive editorials were written only in response to unfair or inaccurate news or editorial pieces.

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