Thus to them, it doesn't make any sense to fund a strictly air superiority fighter. In order for the AF to keep the plane, they had find a way to prove to Congress that it could deliver A-G weapons as well. :crazy:
I think, with the avionics of the F-22, it would make more sense to stuff it with sensors and let it fly recon missions in Afghanistan. Honestly, it has the computing power of some older Navy cruisers, but uses only a fraction of it, as far as I've been told.
If not making air superiority, a F-22 could do smarter things as hunting infantrymen with SDBs. Put a IR camera on it and let the plane analyze the images while in air, allowing the pilot to decide if he stays at safe high altitude or goes down for making mug shots.
And finally, the radar of the F-22 should be able to make some great ISAR images. Even better what the F-15E delivers.
Should all be more useful as adding A/G hardware to the concept.
Reminds of the way the Germans couldn't get the Me262 past Hitler unless it could also carry bombs.
Exactly - that's why it was also so ineffective, though being one of the earliest super weapons of WW2. The crews and planes assigned to train bombing missions had been lost - while Germany also had a far better jet bomber in form of the Arado Ar-234. Making the 262 a bomber was not even needed. Also, the heavy bombs made the 262 even slower for its take-off and landing runs, where most of them got shot down.
For the F-22 this would mean: Fly bombing missions where it can get shot down easily because of it's size and compromised stealth capability.
