The Raptor will be a weasel, someday.

The best weapons money can buy, Lawrence Korb, LA Times, 13th August 2005

There is no doubt that even with the defense budget at historical highs, the Pentagon cannot afford the $1.5 trillion worth of weapons that the military services would like to purchase. However, although the Defense Department is correct in trying to slash the F/A-22, it is dead wrong in trying to save money by canceling the Joint Strike Fighter. ... The Air Force has recognized this and has added a ground attack — or bombing — mission to the Raptor. But using the world's most expensive fighter, which travels at twice the speed of sound, for attacking ground targets is neither cost-effective nor technically practical.

Sorry, but there are ground targets where stealth and supersonic agility are vital.

These are the ground targets that bite back.

The problem is that the F/A-22 is not yet rated to launch HARM missiles because the F/A-22 software is running on obsolete i960 processors that will need to be replaced in order to meet mission growth requirements.

In recent wars a quarter of all sorties were SEAD missions and none of the current Wild Weasels are at all stealthy.

So we need a fighter with the brains of the JSF and the agility of the Raptor in order to take on the next generation of air defenses.

So someday the Air Force will will give the Jurassic Fighter a brain transplant.

-HJC