America’s Restricted Use of F-22 Raptor

United States Air force had cut down the F-22 program to 187 aircraft which was not positively perceived by the people. It was considered to be an abrupt event with consequential results exposing the U.S. Air Force to greater risk.

The program initiated in 2004 is now highlighted as the epitome of War Terror. At the time, authorities may have not been fully capable, and lacked the vision to identify the extent of threats that would prevail in future. Understanding the main purpose for such a drastic cut down could hold many variables without any exact output. However, misjudgement or misreading the global threat, and their circumstances may have been a mistake made by the military planners, and congressional appropriators. The authorities possibly did not implement the program from a long-term perspective.

After the Operation Iraqi Freedom, America was heavily immersed in intense counterinsurgency war in Iraq, and Afghanistan, during which air supremacy was well-established. At the time, displaying F-22 jets was not perceived a priority. Meanwhile, terrorist-aligned insurgencies were the main focus, and considered to prevail in the future. Even though this scenario holds some truth, weapons developers may have adopted a short-term approach, and lost site of greater warfare threats.

The demand for F-22 jets exponentially increased after its display of combat debut. The Defense Department had almost given a green signal to F-22 production which ultimately failed due to financial aspects. Current developments of sixth-gen Air Force stealth fighter indicate the efforts of weapon developers to not repeat the mistakes during the F-22 program.