The American Spectator

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p> HOMELAND DEFENDER br> Re: Michael Fumento's The F/A-22 Raptor Must Fly : /p>

In your 7/8 article "The F/A-22 Raptor Must Fly" you said, "The value of the F-22 in the current guerrilla war? Zero." I don't think that's entirely correct.

If we'd had F/A-22 Raptors on ready-alert on the morning of 9/11, we would have the capability to intercept the second, third, and fourth incoming hijacked planes. We might not have had the will to do so -- shooting down an airliner is a chilling prospect even now --but we would have had the ability. It's got to do with the F/A-22's supercruise capability, the ability of the jet to intercept high-subsonic aircraft like commercial jets without going into fuel-guzzling afterburner.

In short, in an era when an attack on the continental U.S. is far more likely to come from within our borders than without, F/A-22 gives us capabilities for homeland defense that we simply don't have right now.

I've written more about this on my site. You can read it here, if you like:

p>Thank you, br> -- Jeff Harrell /p> p> Six air forces now possess planes more advanced than the United States air force. While not having to worry about France, Sweden, or the Czech Republic, we do still have to worry about Iran, North Korea, China, and a more militant Russia. Congress deliberately cuts the defense budget in order to line the pockets of their main supporters with pork projects not even needed. With Iran less than twelve months away from producing nuclear weapons that will be capable of hitting all of southern Europe and Israel, do we really want an outdated air force that would be slaughtered trying to take out these Iranian nuclear sites? The areas around these sites in Iran are more heavily defended than either Moscow or Hanoi during the Vietnam war. With advances being supplied to Iran in radar and missile technology from nations like France and Russia, we will be filling many body bags very quickly in the event hostilities become necessary. Our military needs more funding and quickly. Events in the Middle East could quickly unwind, requiring many more of our forces to deploy. I am unable to see how our forces -- already stretched to breaking point -- could quickly respond to an all-out attack.

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