Political Crossfire Forums

Stealth technology is somewhat overrated, there was a defense article about a flight of German Typhoons taking on the US F-22 Raptors in a mock dogfight and the Typhoons apparently ate them for breakfast.

I think the reason people get worked up is due to the decades long development and operations cycles involved. In 30 years we'll still be using what we've got right now. Consider that the F-22 is actually a 1980's design, intended to replace the F-15, which is itself 60's tech. Even now, we're playing with Cold War hardware.

So the question is, with development and production costs driving the budgets up and the actual numbers of aircraft down, and with the growth differentials between economies, and the timescales involved....how long can parity be maintained? what we've got right now, or even ten years from now....doesn't matter. As with any considerations about China, its the long view that matters.