Now that is amusing Volkadav, you must have been pretty deep into that jug when this thought struck you, I can remember as a child longing for the day that Northrupp would build the XP-530, it was a number of years before it became the YF-17, as an Air Force proposal, the Navy later adopted it with significant changes as the F-18. The last time the USN came up with an Air Superiority Fighter was the F-14 Tomcat, I don't recall hearing of Any eminant 6th gen Air Superiority Fighter by the USN, for that matter the USAF is still drawing six gens on paper napkins. The Raptor is our Big Bird of the moment, and achieved IOC in 2005, less than 10 years ago, the DNA pool for a replacement is very thin and undernourished at present, and the USN is going to be busy working on sustainment for the 11 carrier battle groups and accessories, their last priority is an aircraft to replace the Raptor, being rather involved as they have been pipe-dreaming about their little UCAV the XB-47. My point is the F-22 is what we will employ in the foreseeable future, it will be brought up to speed in order to integrate with other weapons systems, and the F-22 is the leader in that particular realm of developement, with the F-35 springboarding off what we have learned with the Raptor and enjoying the benefits of a tactical pairing with the F-22, not vica-versa. Cheers Brat