edwin3060 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 (edited) The number of F-22s in service is not as important compared to the fact that it exists. The F22 project has not been cancelled nor is the plane taken out of service. If anything crazy were to happen like the rise of a highly advanced hostile airforce then I'm sure the production lines can be openened again even if it takes time. I doubt Lockheed will destroy all the blue prints. The lessons learned in developing that fighter will be used for the F-35 and other future projects do nothing is lost. I wish that were true-- but once they destroy the tooling for building the aircraft, and retool the factories for the F-35, there is realistically no way they will ever be able to build more F-22s ever again. For example, when NASA was talking about their Orion project, one of the proposals was (and still is, IIRC) to use the Saturn V rocket in some form-- but even though they still have the blueprints, they don't have the necessary equipment to build another Saturn V and tooling up would be prohibitively expensive. Edited April 10, 2009 by edwin3060 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taksraven Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Nice effort to revive this previously crashed and burned thread. Good luck and may the Mod Gods smile on you. Taksraven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight26 Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Well hopefully when it comes to the F-22 they will have learned their lesson and won't destroy the tooling outright. ANother thing to consider is that this might not be the death kneal of the F-22. What it could lead to is (not trying to be political) the senators from the various states where components of the F-22 are built pushing to release the ban on exporting the F-22. At that point you will probably see slightly stripped down, slightly less stealthy models of the F-22 going out to friendly nations. Let's face it an Israeli F-22 will need to be more robust for the environment, so a few changes to the design are inevitable. If, after the gates are openned to allow for F-22 export, that will keep the lines open, even if only doing small unit production, and will allow for the possibility of producing new F-22s later. Also, remember at this point Gates' recommendations are just that, recommendations, and still need to be ratified by congress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I wish that were true-- but once they destroy the tooling for building the aircraft, and retool the factories for the F-35, there is realistically no way they will ever be able to build more F-22s ever again. For example, when NASA was talking about their Orion project, one of the proposals was (and still is, IIRC) to use the Saturn V rocket in some form-- but even though they still have the blueprints, they don't have the necessary equipment to build another Saturn V and tooling up would be prohibitively expensive. I understand where you are coming from. Question in this case is if they will destroy the tools, I can imagine the airforce requesting or paying for storage. For example when Fokker when bankrupt the equipment to build more F-50s and F-100s was put into storage and there were a lot of other companies interested in buying them (which didnt happen but that was for other then technical reasons). I'm aware that the costs would be very high to start up production again, but if 187 current Raptors are not enough for a given situation then I doubt money will play a role if there is a need fore more. IIRC the Soviets reverse engineered a B29 to the nail in 1945. So its in theory possible to rebuild a plane without the tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Sorry, but when the mods close a thread due to violating the rules, we get to decide when it'll re-open or be re-born. It won't be long. Please note that the "no political discussions" rule is the FIRST rule listed and is in BIG RED LETTERS. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...mp;#entry524361 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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