The F/A-22 Raptor: Crucial for continued US air superiority

The F/A-22 Raptor jet fighter could be crucial to the United States in Asia – especially as China continues building its massive strike force to attack Taiwan and deploying hundreds of aircraft that can match the obsolete American F-15s.

Richard Fisher, Asian Security Studies Fellow here at the Center, challenges critics of the next-generation warplane in a letter in the April 12 Washington Post.

"In about three years China will have enough forces in place to consider a surprise strike on Taiwan. It has purchased 300 to 400 Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighters and Su-30 fighter-bombers, plus Russian A-50 AWACS and anti-air and ground attack missiles. These will be coordinated with a force of about 50 attack submarines. These, plus about 1,000 ballistic and cruise missiles, could be the openers for either a blockade of Taiwan or an attack on Taipei," Fisher writes.

Compare that to the meager US presence in the region: "Today the US ‘front line’ is two squadrons (about 48 planes) of Boeing F-15C fighters on Okinawa. The head of US air forces in the Pacific recently complained about the difficulty of simply maintaining these 30-year-old fighters. Since friendly air exercises with Russia in 1992, the Pentagon has known that the Su-27 can outmaneuver the F-15C. In terms of radar, electronics and even weapons, China’s Sukhois are increasingly able to match the F-15C."

A noted expert on China’s military, Fisher writes, "The Sukhois also have the Russian R-73 air-to-air missile that can almost guarantee victory in a dogfight. The self-guided Russian R-77 medium-range air-to-air missile is almost as good as the U.S. AIM-120 AMRAAM. Upgrades may allow all of China’s Sukhois to fire Russian Kh-31 supersonic anti-ship missiles.

"The F/A-22 is the only fighter available to the United States that can truly beat China’s Sukhois, and we need it on Okinawa or Guam now. The F/A-22 can’t fight the war we face today in Iraq. But it might prevent a far larger war on the Taiwan Strait. That is a price worth paying."