This paper tackles the question of whether an air superiority fighter is relevant to warfare in the twenty-first century. Critics of the F/A-22, the US Air Force's next generation air superiority fighter, have identified it as a cold war relic--unjustifiably extensive and out of step with the Department of Defense (DOD) transformation Colonel Cate argues that the six operational goals of the DOD transformation, as defined in the Quadrennial Defense Review Report (QDR) of 2001, actually demand a highly capable air superiority fighter. He shows how achieving these transformational operational goals requires performance of the four offensive counterair functions of surface attack, fighter sweep, escort, and suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), as well as defensive counterair. He demonstrates that only an air superiority fighter can efficiently and effectively satisfy all these functions.

"June 2003."

Air Superiority Defined -- Air Superiority and the Operational Goals of DoD Transformation -- The Transformational Air Superiority Fighter -- The Air Superiority Role: A Comparison of the Competitors -- Conclusions.