The Russians are catching up...

Sukhoi PAK FA

 

Looks like a hybrid of the YF-23 and the F-22.

But yeah... Those russians are sneaky.

 

This looks more like Raptor to me

 

dude thats raptor? he's....well.....old

 

That's why I said hybrid... The fuselage is shaped like the YF23.

 

I repeat: The US never should have capped F22 production. We're going to need this capability, balls-to-the-wall, in the future.

 

Another Russian attempt at closing the gap that did not go as planned. And if you understand Russian you receive a nice explanation of the crash.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh-kuztsE1s [/media]

 

^ It go boom! explanation enuff

 

that raptor probably can't do mach 2.

 

The US historically has not dominated aerial combat by having the most modern, expensive planes. They succeed because of training and support. It's nice that there's a plane that can engage targets without showing up on radar, but it's not invisible and it's not cheap. An unlimited amount will just push conflicts in a direction where the plane is not relevant.

I believe that history shows that the most relevant innovations actually occur in the midst of conflict, not a decade before a shot is fired.