Michael Barranti shared an interesting fact in his letter about 'cut-and-run' techniques," ("Cut-and-run technique mastered by Republicans," Oct. 2).

About the F-22 Raptor he states, "What good is a $360 million weapon system that can only shoot four targets?"

I'm sure he learned that expert fact from his East Asian Studies courses.

Before making erroneous comments about U.S. government weapon systems, please take two minutes to do a little research to confirm your "facts."

The truth of the matter is that the F-22 Raptor has four internal weapons bays, along with four external wing-mounting hardpoints.

This allows for multiple configurations of missiles, bombs and external fuel tanks. Using only the four internal weapons bays, for example, the F-22 can carry six AIM-120 AMRAAM missles and two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.

Now, by my math, that equals eight missiles, allowing the F-22 to "shoot" eight targets without even utilizing any external hardpoints (and thus preserving the aircraft's stealth characteristics).