“While a variety of solutions abound, I believe the current and future asymmetric threats to our nation, particularly from seaborne cruise missiles, requires a fighter platform with the requisite speed and detection to address them,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III wrote in a June 19 letter responding to an inquiry from Sen. Saxby Chambliss , R-Ga., an advocate of additional F-22 production. Final assembly of the F-22 is handled at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Ga., facility. “The F-22’s unique capability in this arena enables it to handle a full spectrum of threats that the ANG’s [Air National Guard’s] current legacy systems are not capable of addressing.”
Please don't insult our intelligence. Unless the ANG plans to keep planes airborne on 24/7 combat air patrols to shoot down cruise missiles launched from a merchant ship 30 miles off our coast, the most likely threat they face is shooting down a hijacked commercial airliner--planes not noted for their ability to detect and shoot down our aircraft.
There are certainly reasons for more Raptors, but if the ANG needs more planes for homeland defense, why not the near-stealth modernized F-15SE?
