http://www.oft.osd.mil/library/libra...%20%20%204.doc
Cebrowski said the defense establishment “should not feel bad” if the
Pentagon opts to buy small quantities of the Navy’s DD(X) and LPD-17 and Air
Force F/A-22. The trade off, he said, was that those programs offer a
“stepping stone” to future capabilities.
....
Labeled as possible “issues of regret,” Cebrowski said spending on the
costly systems of today must be kept in check so as to maintain the course
for technological and capability leaps ahead.

“The idea is to start pulling out the enduring technologies and start
putting them into other places,” the retired three-star said.

So the Raptor is basically just a research project to build a few airplanes
and fly them around for a few years, right? ;-)

-HJC