Couple of things with the F-22...it's good and stealthy when it flies, but it's also big. If you're in visual range you can see it. And with its notional SEAD mission, I don't know that bigger is better.
One thing that's biting the AF in the butt here is their own procurement procedures and silver bullet mentality, IMO. Stealth is nice, but do you need it for every platform? We saw the same thing back with the XB-70 when the manned bomber was seen as the backbone of the AF. Dumping tons of money into that program left TAC to make do with aircraft that weren't designed for the mission at hand (the F-100 and F-105) and even borrowing a Navy design (the F-4).
Gonna be tough, but I really don't think that giving the AF a blank check is the answer.
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