The United States Senate, yesterday did something rational which, for the Senate, is so irrational that I had to stop and think about whether what they did made any sense.

The issue was whether to authorize the funding of seven additional F-22 Raptor fighter jets at a cost of twenty-seven jillion dollars each.

Seriously, according to the LA Times the Senate vote was to strip $1.75 billion out of the Defense Authorization bill which, according to my calculator puts the cost of each plane at $250 million.

And that's not counting tax, title, dealer prep and undercoating.

The F-22 was first imagined in 1980 as an air-superiority fighter which would be able to beat anything the Soviet Air Force could put up against it. Follow me here. It was designed to defeat the Soviet Air Force. The Soviet Air Force ceased to exist in about 1989. The F-22 remained in development even after the enemy it was designed for had collapsed.

In fact, the F-22 didn't become operational until December 2005. Less than four years ago.

According to the Air Force's official website, the aircraft is: A combination of sensor capability, integrated avionics, situational awareness, and weapons provides first-kill opportunity against threats. The F-22A possesses a sophisticated sensor suite allowing the pilot to track, identify, shoot and kill air-to-air threats before being detected. Significant advances in cockpit design and sensor fusion improve the pilot's situational awareness.

Unfortunately, none of those capabilities are useful against people who strap C-4 to their chests and walk into a market and blow themselves up.

Put another way, the F-22 has not been used in either Iraq or Afghanistan because it is too sophisticated for modern warfare.

That, my friends, is a classic Catch-22. Continued...