Major suggests F-22 as F-35 backup plan

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE — The Marines should turn to the Air Force’s top fighter jet, the F-22, if the F-35B program were deemed ineffective, a U.S. Marine Corps major wrote in an extensive report.

Maj. Christopher Cannon told the Marine Corps Gazette the F-22 was a superior aircraft and should be considered as a fallback replacement for the F-35, some of which are based at Eglin Air Force Base.

“The F-22 dwarfs the F-35 in stealth, speed, survivability, deplorability and firepower,” Cannon wrote in his report. “With more mature and more powerful active electronically scanned array radar, and with planned upgrades, the F-22 is a more credible and less risky investment to fulfill the” mission.

Cannon said Tuesday he stood by what he wrote but downplayed the F-22 rhetoric.

“It is all based on analysis,” Cannon said. “The article is really based on there being no plan ‘B’ for the F-35.”

Air Force officials had no comment when contacted by The News Herald this week.

The Marine Corps noted Maj. Cannon’s articles “are his own and do not represent the views of the U.S. Marine Corps.”

“Our requirement for expeditionary tactical aircraft has been demonstrated repeatedly since the inception of Marine aviation almost 100 years ago today and the F-35B will meet this requirement for the next 50 years,” the Marines, reacting to Cannon’s articles, said in a released statement.

Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit public policy organization that conducts independent research, said he was glad to see the Marines encouraging reports like the one Cannon published.

“I do like the fact that the Marines are letting their officers think for themselves,” O’Hanlon said.

But, he added, the F-22 becoming part of the Marine Corps arsenal is a long shot.

“The F-35 has the close take-ability the Marines need,” O’Hanlon said. “I think if anything ever happed to the F-35, they would just go without.”

O’Hanlon said budget constraints also made making the F-22 part of the Marines air fleet remote.

In his report, Cannon wrote: “First, F-22s could be purchased now and would be cheaper initially and cost less to maintain than F-35s in the future. The current DoD (Department of Defense) plan is to buy 50 Marine Corps F-35B aircraft through 2016 at a cost of $9 billion, or $190 million per aircraft.

“In 2011, flyaway costs for the F-22 are a reported $150 million per aircraft,” the report continues. “The U.S. Air Force estimates flying hour costs for the F-22 are $44,259 per hour. The 2008 GAO (Government Accountability Office) report estimated $33,000 per flying hour in a JSF aircraft (Joint Strike Fighter 35). However, F-35B costs will likely be higher than A and C models. Additionally, the 2011 GAO update states that ‘current JSF life-cycle cost estimates are considerably higher than the legacy aircraft it will replace.’ ”

Tyndall Air Force Base reportedly would not have a major impact if the Marines went with the F-22. Tyndall is the home of the 325th Fighter Wing, whose primary mission is to provide air training for F-22 Raptor pilots, as well as maintenance personnel and air battle managers.

Training for F-22 pilots is performed in the 43rd Fighter Squadron at Tyndall, the main training facility for the F-22. The 325th Air Control Squadron trains air battle managers for assignment to combat Air Force units.