We Made an Cut We Can’t Reverse: The U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor ‘Shortage’ Makes Russia and China Smile

The U.S. Air Force Built 195 F-22s Instead of 750 and Destroyed the Tooling to Make More — Now China Has Exactly the Air Force the Raptor Was Designed to Defeat

When it debuted, it was the world’s leading air superiority fighter. Dual-engined, with sleek lines and a robust radar-mitigation capability, the F-22 Raptor was the U.S. Air Force’s dream platform. Built to wrest control of the skies from Soviet aircraft, the stealth fighter was years ahead of its peers. So why was the Raptor production line permanently closed down after less than 200 of them had been built? U.S. Air Force Maj. Paul “Loco” Lope…

We Made an Cut We Can’t Reverse: The U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor ‘Shortage’ Makes Russia and China Smile

The U.S. Air Force is racing to maintain air superiority as China fields more advanced fighters, with Washington pushing ahead with next-generation programs such as NGAD and the F-47 fighter. Beijing has already deployed more than 200 Chengdu J-20 stealth fighters and is rapidly approaching the official deployment of its Type 003 Fujian carrier and stealth air wing. Beijing is piling the pressure on Washington, but that strain on the current U.S…