GEN T. Michael 'Buzz' Moseley, the former US Air Force chief of staff, wasn't shy in pushing to renew his fighter aircraft fleet back in 2007 when he was the boss. Moseley always wanted 381 Raptors, plus 1,763 F-35As as quickly as possible to replace his F-16 fleet. He was, however, sharply criticized for being overly supportive of fighters, and less so of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and unmanned platforms, for example. While the headlines for Moseley's fifth-generation fighters are signature reduction and the ability to operate 24 hours a day in an integrated air defense system, they also offer a high degree of versatility. They can tackle many missions, including those not traditionally associated with 'fighters' — melding data, they can act as stealthy command hubs if required. The problem is that the USAF's drive for an all-stealthy fighter fleet comes at a price. When the F-35A was conceived as an affordable, stealthy, lightweight F-16 replacement, few could have questioned the logic of procuring them on a large scale.
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