This represented an enormous increase in capability over just a few years earlier. Very early in the next century we will be able to engage 1,500 individual targets within the first hour, if not the first few minutes of a conflict. When combined with the information operations I just described, you realize we are entering a period that will dramatically reduce the time from detection to destruction of a target. We will be able to envelop our adversary. None of this will be possible without air superiority.
Many systems are very comparable to the best the United States currently has to offer.
As a result, we're developing a new fighter to handle the threat and maintain an edge. The F-22 is that aircraft. That's why they fly at night. This will allow the F-22 to arrive faster and stay in the engagement area much longer than anticipated. Certainly it is turbulent and uncertain, but it offers you great opportunity to make a difference.