What a pity! F-22 Raptor is my favorite strike fighter. Very cool shapes, stylish, aerodynamics, stealth technology, and of course American pride. But today, July 21, 2009, U.S. Congress voted to officially retire the F-22 Raptor. Efficiency, costs and expenses are the main reason. The next step, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft is considered will save cost with the expenditure that does not lose quality even more powerful than F-22. Alias name of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is F-35 Lightning II. Likely, F-35 is the next generation of F-16 and F-22 is the successor of F-15 with each having stealth technology.

The F-35 Lightning II scheduled will be used by U.S. air force on 2011, when the phase out of the F-22 will finish. So, Joint Strike Fighter will dominate the new skies of US as the fifth generation aircraft. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable war machine strike fighter, a multirole aircraft that could do close air support, tactical bombarding, and air defence missions, said Wikipedia. But, I believe, U.S. is still the most powerful country in the world with superior air defense aircraft that they have. I voted for F-22 Raptor, as the best fighter in the world that will never be forgotten. What will happen? U.S. plans to make F-35 as the new standard of their military aircraft.

Goodbye F-22 Raptor, Welcome F-35 Lightning II. Image was taken from Wikipedia