by Emory Rowland

  Two: "Buddy Spike"

Without following through on the F-22 investment, the U.S. will not have the world's dominant fighter during the year's leading up to 2010. This leaves a gap of up to ten years without a superior fighter to compete with the Su 37, the Russian response to the F-22.

The gap will have to be overcome by increasing the number of F-15's, upgrading the F-15 (how do you upgrade a non-stealth airframe to stealth?), or relying on other upgraded aircraft like the Navy's F-18E/F Super Hornet. Keep in mind that the F-15 will be about 40 years old when the JSF arrives. If the U.S. goes to battle with the best product, both the pilot risk and the cost can be reduced (a smaller number of F-22's can do the job of many F-15's).

There's a reason that Europe's upcoming superfighter was called the EF 2000. The Eurofighter was supposed to be in service by the year 2000. While its production has been under way for a year now, delivery has been delayed until 2002.

Chris Worning, Dasa’s Eurofighter test pilot, comments on Eurofighter Typhoon..

"The most modern fighter that I had flown previously is the F-16 and I tend to compare Eurofighter with a much superior engine performance and compared to the F-16 Block 50, the Eurofighter maximum take-off weight is typically only 20% higher but we have 40% more thrust.

2 Seat Variant of Typhoon.

"Even more significant is the fact that the high thrust of the PW229 is reached by an almost 100% augmentation in reheat so when we compare dry power, Eurofighter has 75% more thrust. This leads to a much lower fuel consumption in combat situations and is one of the factors that allow us to 'supercruise' (flying supersonically without reheat) which we have now demonstrated on many test flights."

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In discussing the F-15's competitors, Gen. Hawley, states "the MiG-29, SU-27, Mirage 2000, Rafael and Eurofighter 2000 each have performance advantages in some areas such as acceleration, radar capability, and/or firepower. These aircraft are aggressively marketed worldwide and we face improvements in both the quality and quantity of potential threat aircraft."

The Eurofighter is expected to outperform the F-15, but will not approach the effectiveness of the F-22. Competition between the Eurofighter and aging U.S. fighters is beginning to heat up. The Europeans are reported to be already selling the Eurofighter to anyone interested. The U.S. will be in the odd position of deploying an air supremacy fighter (the F-15) which will overwhelm neither enemy nor ally.

If the U.S. wants, it can deliver F-22's by about the same time the Eurofighter appears. While the U.S. may overcome the technological edge of other aircraft by seizing the numerical advantage, there's just something that seems wrong about the Air Force not flying the best.

Foreign military sales can be crucial to a fighter program in that the increased production volume obtained reduces the per-aircraft cost to the US military. If the F-22 continues, the US State Department will be able to choose which country gets a chance to buy the F-22 and what sort of a downgraded design will be made available.

Several countries, most notably Japan, have been clamoring for the right to procure some F-22s. The presence of F-22's in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan would be a strong deterrent to the North Korean and Chinese threats.

So far, the Defense Department has stonewalled on foreign sales. The point is, the foreign market would add to the US's falling balance of payments, help keep the F-22 costs low, and provide a political tool for the U.S. government. Also, lining up foreign sales of the F-22 might undermine the possibility of the Eurofighter being seriously considered by any first world power.

Go to Part III