That of course may be the case.. but then again look at the roles. The F-22 -->Fighter, Growler --> Dedicated EA aircraft. So given the Growler vs. Raptor argument, it's all about ROE. The only way a Growler could manage a Raptor kill is how the hop was setup, to get the training value, i.e. "Let's throw the best at it and see what happens". You can go into alot of semantics about AESA, this that.. but it can occur that maybe the Growler jammed the hell out of the Raptor thus allowing the kill. Then again they didn't go into configuration of the Growler, which could have been a "typical" configuration during a simulated mission, with the Raptor obviously Red Air. It's like that post on Alert5 about the VFA-11 getting a guns kill on a Raptor. Stuff happens and goes into inter-service rivalry when Air Force pilots strut into a Navy airfield and they can rightly say that it doesn't dominate everything. Just like how me an Army dude can out do some JTACs here on my FOB. Most of my controls are sitting on my butt in the TOC looking at computer screens. So it's like do I really need a JTAC? No, but the Army and Air Force doesn't agree, so I gotta say "roger". So when I outdo the JTACs I feel pretty proud, and to down the world's most advanced fighter.... I would gloat too. Not becauase of rivalry, but mainly accomplishment of a great challenge.
And I agree with Jug, it could have been pure dumb luck on the Growler pilot vs. the Raptor pilot, but shows that nothing's invincible.
And all this talk of going back retro.....? No I wouldn't want to go back to old tanks JW. Dude I'm not going to sacrifice shoot on the move, better survivability, reliability over a clunker of an M60A3 especially when it's got an outdated sensor (Night vision just an IR searchlight?) systems and just LOUD. Nope sorry. THat's like saying I want the FISTV back over a BFIST. Just not a good idea.