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Originally Posted by DarkJedi
Do you think the F-22 and F-35 will be the last manned fighters produced for the USAF?
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No.
UCAVs are still a good generation (at least) away from supplanting manned aircraft completely.
However, we will see the full implementation of combat drones in our natural lifespans.
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How do you think these two aircraft stack up against the foreign competition?
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The F-22 is a tremendous waste of money--the YF-23 should have won the contract.
Technologically, they are superior to any and all threats.
The Eurofighter cannot keep up.
The Rafale is a generation behind.
The Russian-made threats (plausibly the Su-30MK/Su-30MKK/Su-30MKI/etc and potentially the Su-37 if it were to ever enter real production) cannot compete in terms of stealth tech or avionics/sensors, but can more than compete from a performance perspective (sans supercruise.)
That said, stealth tech will be rendered obsolete by the deployment of passive radar networks.