International Coalition for Expansion (MT signup)

[Glaswegistan]

Right, bad news again.

Turns out I might not be able to join in. Good timing, I know, but something just came up again and I'd rather not commit to anything in the time that I'm still having to deal with this. Reason? Could destroy the next year or so of my life if mishandled.

Dunno how quickly I'll be able to unfuck this again.

If it is a smaller, falklands style conflict, that would probably require less of my free time, and so be something I might be able to manage, but I generally don't commit to full scale wars unless I can put at least a quarter of my free time into them. Sorry again, if you want a full explanation, I can give it to ICE command or whatever, but I'd prefer not to do it in this thread if you need to hear my excuses.

[Phonencia]

Right, bad news again.

Turns out I might not be able to join in. Good timing, I know, but something just came up again and I'd rather not commit to anything in the time that I'm still having to deal with this. Reason? Could destroy the next year or so of my life if mishandled.

Dunno how quickly I'll be able to unfuck this again.

If it is a smaller, falklands style conflict, that would probably require less of my free time, and so be something I might be able to manage, but I generally don't commit to full scale wars unless I can put at least a quarter of my free time into them. Sorry again, if you want a full explanation, I can give it to ICE command or whatever, but I'd prefer not to do it in this thread if you need to hear my excuses.

*pets*
Fret not brother and let not your heart be troubled. All will work out well I'm sure and you're excused. Although, if you could leave a few gazillion guys, tanks and ships under one of our control that'd be nice...

Ladies and gentlemen of the coalition, it has become clear to me that Ralkovia is (ICly) the embodiment of pure evil and is in fact the perfect enemy of ICE. Despite Ralkovia's numerical superiority, we will fight. We will win and justice will be delivered to the oppressed no matter the cost!

*sounds cavalry charge*


OOC thread will be up momentarily. SOMEONE MAKE A PROPAGANDA VIDEO FOR ICE!

I CALL BEING ONE OF THE GUYS RAIDING THE SLAVE SHIP.

I'll send some SEALs to accompany the multinational "TF141"-type organization that'll be doing it. Raiding a ship shouldn't take more than a squad of around 25 or so, plus 15 or so auxiliary/air support and 10 reserves/QRF. So it's not like everyone should dump 100 people to raid a slave ship.

You and I will roleplay the boarders don't worry. The 25 guys will be divided into five, five man teams from different nationalities. A Phonencian SEAL Team as Alpha, Emmerian SEAL Team as Bravo, maybe a CNA Seraph Team as Charlie Team, and that leaves room for two others to be Delta and Echo Teams. Any volunteers?

[Slavatainia]

Right, bad news again.

Turns out I might not be able to join in. Good timing, I know, but something just came up again and I'd rather not commit to anything in the time that I'm still having to deal with this. Reason? Could destroy the next year or so of my life if mishandled.

Dunno how quickly I'll be able to unfuck this again.

If it is a smaller, falklands style conflict, that would probably require less of my free time, and so be something I might be able to manage, but I generally don't commit to full scale wars unless I can put at least a quarter of my free time into them. Sorry again, if you want a full explanation, I can give it to ICE command or whatever, but I'd prefer not to do it in this thread if you need to hear my excuses.

*pets*
Fret not brother and let not your heart be troubled. All will work out well I'm sure and you're excused. Although, if you could leave a few gazillion guys, tanks and ships under one of our control that'd be nice...

I CALL BEING ONE OF THE GUYS RAIDING THE SLAVE SHIP.

I'll send some SEALs to accompany the multinational "TF141"-type organization that'll be doing it. Raiding a ship shouldn't take more than a squad of around 25 or so, plus 15 or so auxiliary/air support and 10 reserves/QRF. So it's not like everyone should dump 100 people to raid a slave ship.

You and I will roleplay the boarders don't worry. The 25 guys will be divided into five, five man teams from different nationalities. A Phonencian SEAL Team as Alpha, Emmerian SEAL Team as Bravo, maybe a CNA Seraph Team as Charlie Team, and that leaves room for two others to be Delta and Echo Teams. Any volunteers?

Me..?

[Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army]

We currently have 2 Rotterdam class amphibious transport dock ships currently ready for service. Both have the ability to hold up to 611 of our people per ship. However we lack many functional landing crafts to transport our men directly from the ship. However we are expecting loans of foreign ICE ships to help transport our men for this operation.

We have 800,000 men capable of combat, but the number that is willing to fight in this conflict is currently unclear right now. We also have 100 Tondra tanks fully operational for this slave rescue.

Once the ICE ships enter our service we can assist to our full potential, but for now a couple of ships worth of troops and some tanks is all we can provide

[Arthurista]

I volunteer 5 Marine Commandos plus one Merlin helicopter for the slave ship raid (FN MAG, rockets). I'm noobish so if Phon or Emmeria wants to take command of it I def won't mind.

[United Nations Alliance]

Oh Phone, you read my mind. Agent Tayla Redmont would love to lead another attack similar to what they did in the war against Khalite on Verktha. Then I can send in the bombers!

And for my ORBAT

100x B-2 Spirit stealth bombers

100x B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers

250x Airbus A-380 air refueling tankers

50x F-36s loaded out for escort missions

1x experimental transport aircraft (HTV-3, an improved varient of the one we crashed in Verktha)

2x Beastmaster Squads (60 soldiers and 120 attack animals, 2 per soldier)

4x Valkirye squads (60 soldiers)

2x Seraph squads (60 soldiers)

60x armoured attack tigers (Marshite, Mountain, Forest, Plains and Desert breeds are available, any combination of these can be fielded)

60x armoured attack wolves (Forest, Mountain, plains and Desert breeds. Any combination of these can be fielded)

[Arthurista]

We currently have 2 Rotterdam class amphibious transport dock ships currently ready for service. Both have the ability to hold up to 611 of our people per ship. However we lack many functional landing crafts to transport our men directly from the ship. However we are expecting loans of foreign ICE ships to help transport our men for this operation.

We have 800,000 men capable of combat, but the number that is willing to fight in this conflict is currently unclear right now. We also have 100 Tondra tanks fully operational for this slave rescue.

Once the ICE ships enter our service we can assist to our full potential, but for now a couple of ships worth of troops and some tanks is all we can provide

We can lend you a few of our older frigates as well as escort. Not much use against air attack but good vs subs.

[Capisaria]

When combined don't we outnumber him?

My totall troops that won't all be in the war is about 10 million.

[Murray land]

Nation Name: United Celtic Kingdom of Murray land
National Leader(s): King Thomas the 2nd/ PM Christopher Williams
National/Most Common Religion: Roman Catholic
Government Form: Constitutional monarchy free market system
Military Strength: 170 million
Main Infantry Weapon: M4 assault rifle
Main Battle Tank: M1-abrams
Main Fighter Plane: F-22 raptor
Infantry Calibers Used: 5.56x45mm NATO
Military Service Branches: Army, Navy, Air force, Marine corp,
Infantry Body Armor: Full body kevlar
Are You Willing to Switch to the 6.5x38mm ICE Cartridge for Your Main Rifle?: yes
Are You Willing to Assist in Offensive Military Operations?: Depends if it's reactionary
List All Other Alliances You Are a Member of: Nation States International
Do You Want to Make a Monetary Donation to the ICE Humanitarian Branch?: 500,000,000 walters annually
Are You In Need of Military Aid?: No we are willing to give training
Are You Willing to Volunteer Extreme-Climate Areas of Your Nation for Training Exercises?: yes
If Yes, List Areas and Climate: arctic, mountain, desert and rain forest
Other Facts You Believe ICE Should Know About Your Nation:

The F-22 should not be your mainstay fighter. It is designed for one role and one only, on top of that it is really expensive. I would suggest using the F-35 if you really need a stealth fighter, or better yet buy an original from an NS storefront. However your mainstay should be moltirole or have a ground attack variant.

Well it's a good thing we don't strictly rely on it for everything. We need a fast response to attacks in Murray land.

[Virana]

For the slavery interception raid I'll have five DEVGRU operators. Kickin' it to top notch for this one. In addition we could have at least two Black Hawks providing helicopter sniping. I'll volunteer two SEAL snipers (a spotter and sniper) for one of the BH's. Cuz heli-sniping is sick. Details of the raid later, though... I'm thinking it should be conducted Act of Valor-style.

As for my ORBAT for the war, I'm not expecting to deploy millions of troops. I've only got 1 million or so active, and a lot are preoccupied in other stuff, so at max I'm expecting roughly 100,000 at most. That includes the entire spectrum—air, ground, sea.

As of this point I haven't drawn up a formal ORBAT, but I do have my regional organization set according to the NS World Map. Ralkovia resides in Tyrrhenia, where all operational forces are under the jurisdiction of URNORTHCOM (United Republic Northern Command) which comprises Tyrrhenia, Irkalla, and most of Minyang. Naval forces deployed will be part of the conveniently-named U.R. Naval Forces Northern Command, the theater-level U.R. Navy command responsible for operations in that region. In fact, here's a map showing the United Republic's regional naval commands (U.R. is in green).

EDIT: Sadly, after initial examination, no ICE member nations besides me and West are on the NS RPing world map (idk for sure). Ralk's in the far north and we're both in the far south.

[Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army]

We currently have 2 Rotterdam class amphibious transport dock ships currently ready for service. Both have the ability to hold up to 611 of our people per ship. However we lack many functional landing crafts to transport our men directly from the ship. However we are expecting loans of foreign ICE ships to help transport our men for this operation.

We have 800,000 men capable of combat, but the number that is willing to fight in this conflict is currently unclear right now. We also have 100 Tondra tanks fully operational for this slave rescue.

Once the ICE ships enter our service we can assist to our full potential, but for now a couple of ships worth of troops and some tanks is all we can provide

We can lend you a few of our older frigates as well as escort. Not much use against air attack but good vs subs.

That would be good. We thank you.

For those sending ships, please telegraph me the ships and the amount of ships so we can properly intrgate it into our armed forces for this mission. Nothing is worse then having extra ships but not having enough infomation on them to use them properly.

Once again we thank you all for your assistance

[Post War America]

Thus far we can contribute only naval support, the 1st Carrier Group (aka SAS Hideki Kondo Carrier Group) which consists of:

1 Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier (SAS Hideki Kondo)
4 Charybdis Class Cruisers
8 Scylla Class Destroyers
15 Morgawr Class Frigates
5 Nessie Class Attack Submarines
1 Chessie Class Ballistic Missile Submarine (just in case)
10 Castillo Class Refueling Ships
30 Los Cruces Class Multipurpose Transport Ships

These forces have orders not to engage the enemy directly unless attacked first (make sure that happens Phon), after which I can send more substantial forces, as I will then have Cassus Belli. So with any attack on this fleet comes the 1st Corps, the 42nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment and 4 Squadrons of Air Force fighter aircraft. If the situtation really needs it I might be able to call in the 2nd Carrier Group and 1st Fleet, but I do believe with the massive naval forces already given, more of my navy will be unnecessary. If the situation gets really nasty, I may call in the entire first army, but since I'm only humanitarian aid branch for a reason, I sure hope it doesn't come to that.

[United Nations Alliance]

Also if an air force is being sent could they co-ordinate with me since I am sending in huge ass bombers to carpet bomb Ralk's ass, most likely with regular bombs and maybe one FAEB. I'll need co-ordination so I can actually reach my targets.

WW2 style Allied bombing raid time!

And for the data and details of my HTV-3 I'll be using we have this. Just scroll down to the bit about the Blackswift, because that is what I'm working with now. I used the HTV-2 a few times, but after discussions with friends on here (can't remember who) they advised me that the Mach 20 varient would be, for lack of a better word, impossible for use as a troop transport, needless to say the one I crashed in Verktha went at Mach 4, well below hypersonic speeds. My USMC friend said it would work well as a modern version of the SR-71 Blackbird (recon plane) and could (maybe) double as a bomber. Premptive strike bomber anyone?

So really I put that up mainly for Phone and Virana to look over and give suggestions.

[Arthurista]

WW2 style Allied bombing raid time!

Let's be a bit less indiscriminate than Dresden/Tokyo shall we? Disproportionate civvies casualties isn't really nice, no matter how evil and brainwashed those civvies are, not to mention the slave population. Do it like Kosovo?

[United Nations Alliance]

Oh yes because there wasn't any civvy casualties in Kosovo...no I'm talking more what they did to Germany, hitting military targets only away from the civvies.

[Virana]

Also if an air force is being sent could they co-ordinate with me since I am sending in huge ass bombers to carpet bomb Ralk's ass, most likely with regular bombs and maybe one FAEB. I'll need co-ordination so I can actually reach my targets.

WW2 style Allied bombing raid time!

And for the data and details of my HTV-3 I'll be using we have this. Just scroll down to the bit about the Blackswift, because that is what I'm working with now. I used the HTV-2 a few times, but after discussions with friends on here (can't remember who) they advised me that the Mach 20 varient would be, for lack of a better word, impossible for use as a troop transport, needless to say the one I crashed in Verktha went at Mach 4, well below hypersonic speeds. My USMC friend said it would work well as a modern version of the SR-71 Blackbird (recon plane) and could (maybe) double as a bomber. Premptive strike bomber anyone?

So really I put that up mainly for Phone and Virana to look over and give suggestions.

Damn, I was unaware. Looks like another potential GE&T product idea. Add that to my list. I'll have to do more research into it though to get you some feedback and to get onto something that might possibly work. And even then we might have the "that's PMT" arguments going. Who knows.

WW2 style Allied bombing raid time!

Let's be a bit less indiscriminate than Dresden/Tokyo shall we? Disproportionate civvies casualties isn't really nice, no matter how evil and brainwashed those civvies are, not to mention the slave population. Do it like Kosovo?

We could do it like Iraq (the first time). Unload a shit-ton of bombs every five seconds but with such precision and target selection that the civvies in the same city can ignore the constant explosions and go about their daily lives however they'd like.

At least, that's how the bombings of Baghdad were described during the 1991 Gulf War.

[Finorskia]

The F-22 should not be your mainstay fighter. It is designed for one role and one only, on top of that it is really expensive. I would suggest using the F-35 if you really need a stealth fighter, or better yet buy an original from an NS storefront. However your mainstay should be moltirole or have a ground attack variant.

Well it's a good thing we don't strictly rely on it for everything. We need a fast response to attacks in Murray land.

There are better options. The F-15, F-16, hell if you put modern US avionics in a Su-27 or latter variant you would have probably one of the best fighters in the world, and still probably cheaper than the F-22. The F-22 is a air superiority fighter not well suited for many other roles. I would suggest do some research and pick a better aircraft for your primary fighter plane.

[United Nations Alliance]

Also if an air force is being sent could they co-ordinate with me since I am sending in huge ass bombers to carpet bomb Ralk's ass, most likely with regular bombs and maybe one FAEB. I'll need co-ordination so I can actually reach my targets.

WW2 style Allied bombing raid time!

And for the data and details of my HTV-3 I'll be using we have this. Just scroll down to the bit about the Blackswift, because that is what I'm working with now. I used the HTV-2 a few times, but after discussions with friends on here (can't remember who) they advised me that the Mach 20 varient would be, for lack of a better word, impossible for use as a troop transport, needless to say the one I crashed in Verktha went at Mach 4, well below hypersonic speeds. My USMC friend said it would work well as a modern version of the SR-71 Blackbird (recon plane) and could (maybe) double as a bomber. Premptive strike bomber anyone?

So really I put that up mainly for Phone and Virana to look over and give suggestions.

Damn, I was unaware. Looks like another potential GE&T product idea. Add that to my list. I'll have to do more research into it though to get you some feedback and to get onto something that might possibly work. And even then we might have the "that's PMT" arguments going. Who knows.

Let's be a bit less indiscriminate than Dresden/Tokyo shall we? Disproportionate civvies casualties isn't really nice, no matter how evil and brainwashed those civvies are, not to mention the slave population. Do it like Kosovo?

We could do it like Iraq (the first time). Unload a shit-ton of bombs every five seconds but with such precision and target selection that the civvies in the same city can ignore the constant explosions and go about their daily lives however they'd like.

At least, that's how the bombings of Baghdad were described during the 1991 Gulf War.

Yes! Bombing runs EXACTLY like that!

And I'm glad you decided to pick up the Blackswift as a progect, but could it be a joint venture between our nations? I mean my nation has that as an experimental aircraft. And the tech is used for ICBMs, so adapting it for an aircraft isn't hard, as you can see it's been done multipul times and Beoing is even doing something similar.

[Virana]

Well it's a good thing we don't strictly rely on it for everything. We need a fast response to attacks in Murray land.

There are better options. The F-15, F-16, hell if you put modern US avionics in a Su-27 or latter variant you would have probably one of the best fighters in the world, and still probably cheaper than the F-22. The F-22 is a air superiority fighter not well suited for many other roles. I would suggest do some research and pick a better aircraft for your primary fighter plane.

F-15 is also an ASF (except F-15E which is basically a long-range interdictor). The Su-27 is also normally used in the air superiority role; the MiG-29 is generally the chosen Russian multirole fighter iirc.

As a primary multirole fighter the most historically successful is the F-16. The most advanced F-16 variant is the F-16E/F Desert Falcon built for the UAE Air Force, although the new F-16V program intends to upgrade USAF F-16C/Ds to a similar standard.

So basically, if you want Russian, go with MiG-29 for a multirole. If you want American go with F-16 or F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (or even F-35 if you want; it's not just American but a combination of numerous countries in the world, yet still mostly American). If you want European you've got a number of options; the French Dassault Rafale is great for SEAD since it's got an advanced defensive aids system, the British Eurofighter Typhoon (actually not British but pan-European, yet still mostly British) is one of the most advanced fighters in the world, and the Saab JAS-39 Gripen is always a great option.

A good idea is to purchase fighters from NS storefronts in Global Economics and Trade; there are a number of good options available. Popular fighters on NS come from Gemballa Avionic Development, Karlberg, Lyran Arms, and countless others. I myself sell the F-36 although it's got tighter export restrictions now.

---

Yes! Bombing runs EXACTLY like that!

And I'm glad you decided to pick up the Blackswift as a progect, but could it be a joint venture between our nations? I mean my nation has that as an experimental aircraft. And the tech is used for ICBMs, so adapting it for an aircraft isn't hard, as you can see it's been done multipul times and Beoing is even doing something similar.

Of course since it sounds so expensive it'll likely be a multinational thing. It sounds like a good idea, especially since the NS world is so gigantic, to have a preemptive global strike capability.

[United Nations Alliance]

Well the US wanted to use it in the real world for that ability, so of course it'll be good in a world that is most likely the same size, if not bigger the the sun. We should discuss it more in depth somewhere else though.

[Arthurista]

Damn, I was unaware. Looks like another potential GE&T product idea. Add that to my list. I'll have to do more research into it though to get you some feedback and to get onto something that might possibly work. And even then we might have the "that's PMT" arguments going. Who knows.


We could do it like Iraq (the first time). Unload a shit-ton of bombs every five seconds but with such precision and target selection that the civvies in the same city can ignore the constant explosions and go about their daily lives however they'd like.

At least, that's how the bombings of Baghdad were described during the 1991 Gulf War.

Yes! Bombing runs EXACTLY like that!

And I'm glad you decided to pick up the Blackswift as a progect, but could it be a joint venture between our nations? I mean my nation has that as an experimental aircraft. And the tech is used for ICBMs, so adapting it for an aircraft isn't hard, as you can see it's been done multipul times and Beoing is even doing something similar.

Of course, if they have troops out in the open we can just carpet bomb away with the heaviest bombers. Anyone still got B-52/Avro Vulcan type aircrafts?

[United Nations Alliance]

Of course, if they have troops out in the open we can just carpet bomb away with the heaviest bombers. Anyone still got B-52/Avro Vulcan type aircrafts?

Look at my ORBAT, I have 100 B-52s waiting to be deployed.

[Arthurista]

There are better options. The F-15, F-16, hell if you put modern US avionics in a Su-27 or latter variant you would have probably one of the best fighters in the world, and still probably cheaper than the F-22. The F-22 is a air superiority fighter not well suited for many other roles. I would suggest do some research and pick a better aircraft for your primary fighter plane.

F-15 is also an ASF (except F-15E which is basically a long-range interdictor). The Su-27 is also normally used in the air superiority role; the MiG-29 is generally the chosen Russian multirole fighter iirc.

As a primary multirole fighter the most historically successful is the F-16. The most advanced F-16 variant is the F-16E/F Desert Falcon built for the UAE Air Force, although the new F-16V program intends to upgrade USAF F-16C/Ds to a similar standard.

So basically, if you want Russian, go with MiG-29 for a multirole. If you want American go with F-16 or F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (or even F-35 if you want; it's not just American but a combination of numerous countries in the world, yet still mostly American). If you want European you've got a number of options; the French Dassault Rafale is great for SEAD since it's got an advanced defensive aids system, the British Eurofighter Typhoon (actually not British but pan-European, yet still mostly British) is one of the most advanced fighters in the world, and the Saab JAS-39 Gripen is always a great option.

A good idea is to purchase fighters from NS storefronts in Global Economics and Trade; there are a number of good options available. Popular fighters on NS come from Gemballa Avionic Development, Karlberg, Lyran Arms, and countless others. I myself sell the F-36 although it's got tighter export restrictions now.

---

Yes! Bombing runs EXACTLY like that!

And I'm glad you decided to pick up the Blackswift as a progect, but could it be a joint venture between our nations? I mean my nation has that as an experimental aircraft. And the tech is used for ICBMs, so adapting it for an aircraft isn't hard, as you can see it's been done multipul times and Beoing is even doing something similar.

Of course since it sounds so expensive it'll likely be a multinational thing. It sounds like a good idea, especially since the NS world is so gigantic, to have a preemptive global strike capability.

A major advantage the F-22 has over, say, Su-27s or Typhoons is stealth, though, isn't it? Although most of the advanced European fighters and the F-18E have low observable designs. Just how much of a margin of superiority does that give the F-22?

[Finorskia]

Yes! Bombing runs EXACTLY like that!

And I'm glad you decided to pick up the Blackswift as a progect, but could it be a joint venture between our nations? I mean my nation has that as an experimental aircraft. And the tech is used for ICBMs, so adapting it for an aircraft isn't hard, as you can see it's been done multipul times and Beoing is even doing something similar.

Of course, if they have troops out in the open we can just carpet bomb away with the heaviest bombers. Anyone still got B-52/Avro Vulcan type aircrafts?

I have a bomber capable of crying a MOAB.

F-15 is also an ASF (except F-15E which is basically a long-range interdictor). The Su-27 is also normally used in the air superiority role; the MiG-29 is generally the chosen Russian multirole fighter iirc.

As a primary multirole fighter the most historically successful is the F-16. The most advanced F-16 variant is the F-16E/F Desert Falcon built for the UAE Air Force, although the new F-16V program intends to upgrade USAF F-16C/Ds to a similar standard.

So basically, if you want Russian, go with MiG-29 for a multirole. If you want American go with F-16 or F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (or even F-35 if you want; it's not just American but a combination of numerous countries in the world, yet still mostly American). If you want European you've got a number of options; the French Dassault Rafale is great for SEAD since it's got an advanced defensive aids system, the British Eurofighter Typhoon (actually not British but pan-European, yet still mostly British) is one of the most advanced fighters in the world, and the Saab JAS-39 Gripen is always a great option.

A good idea is to purchase fighters from NS storefronts in Global Economics and Trade; there are a number of good options available. Popular fighters on NS come from Gemballa Avionic Development, Karlberg, Lyran Arms, and countless others. I myself sell the F-36 although it's got tighter export restrictions now.

---

Of course since it sounds so expensive it'll likely be a multinational thing. It sounds like a good idea, especially since the NS world is so gigantic, to have a preemptive global strike capability.

A major advantage the F-22 has over, say, Su-27s or Typhoons is stealth, though, isn't it? Although most of the advanced European fighters and the F-18E have low observable designs. Just how much of a margin of superiority does that give the F-22?

Its not enough to warrant the cost, and again its limited in its usefulness.

[Virana]

A major advantage the F-22 has over, say, Su-27s or Typhoons is stealth, though, isn't it? Although most of the advanced European fighters and the F-18E have low observable designs. Just how much of a margin of superiority does that give the F-22?

A very significant one, actually. F/A-18E/F has a smaller RCS than any other non-stealth fighter, and Eurofighter's probably second on that list. However they don't come close to dedicated stealth craft; the F-22 has an RCS equivalent to that of a metal marble. F-35 roughly that of a beach ball.

You could almost consider the F-35 as a supplement to the Eurofighter since it's gonna be so widely adopted. In fact one of the reasons the Eurofighter hasn't sold as well as Britain had hoped on the international market is that 1) a dedicated stealth F-35 is coming in a couple years, 2) Rafale and Gripen are other European fighters contending with analogous American F-16E/F and F/A-18E/F and Russian Su-27 variants and MiGs in the fighter market - sorta hard to break into that. Plus its price tag is the highest of all non-5th gen fighters (with Rafale eerily close on that one as well).

Back on the F-22: by being so low-observable, it's able to straight up bypass most radar systems. It's too difficult to detect at long range and it's got a powerful AESA radar to counter. Most enemies won't even see it. In exercises pilots hate facing the F-22, since they die every time—apparently it feels like it disappears and suddenly the computer says you're dead cuz the F-22 is on your tail launching missiles. One Australian pilot said it's frustrating because you can see it clearly but you can't do anything since none of your weapons can lock onto it. The F-22 is something like 400-2 K/D in exercises, with one of the kills being, as the pilot of the attacker described, a once-in-a-million luck shot from his cannons, and the other occurred when the F-22 had "shot down" its enemy and the "enemy" had returned to action too early according to the exercise's rules iirc. The F-22 pilot hadn't expected the guy to come back so quick so he got shot in the back. All simulated, of course.

Of course, as FIn said, it's so expensive that you can't use many. It creates a "fighter gap" where you have less fighters than you need, hence why the USAF is gonna upgrade a bunch of F-15s and F-16s with the most modern avionics (developed from the F-22/35) to help cover that gap.