The case for more F-22s

In justifying his 2009 decision to close the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor line at just 187 aircraft, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said China would not field a fifth generation combat aircraft before 2020, by which time the US and its allies would have more than a thousand stealth aircraft in service.

The majority of these were planned to be F-35 JSFs, with the balance made up of the F-22s and a handful of B-2 stealth bombers.

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