Investor's Business Daily on the Raptor

An analysis/opinion piece in the Investor's Business Daily asks two pointed questions about the F-22 Raptor:

1) If it is so unnecessary and a Cold War relic, just why do the Japanese want it so badly?

2) Why is a country willing to spend trillions of dollars on TARP bailouts unable to afford seven more Raptors?

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael M. Dunn, chief executive of the Air Force Association, notes that in last year's conflict in Georgia, the Raptor was the only aircraft in our inventory that could have penetrated the defended airspace and had a chance of surviving.

The article reminds us that the F-22 is our only current fighter that can survive newer Surface-to-Air Missiles. It goes on to note the Raptor's capabilities in comparison with the F-35, which was always intended to be complementary, not a replacement for the F-22.

It also takes issue with the characterization of the F-22 as a "niche" weapon: "Air dominance is not a niche scenario."

Read it here.