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Senator proposes exporting F-22 to allies

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee wants to explore selling an export version of the F-22 Raptor to foreign allies.

In a June 4 hearing before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, told Air Force leaders to get ready for questions he plans to ask about creating a version of the Raptor that would win U.S. clearance for foreign military sales.

In an interview after the hearing, Inouye said representatives of the Japanese government had contacted him asking for the information.

“I’m looking at it to see what the best deal for us is,” Inouye said. “I want to inquire as to what [the Air Force] thinks of an export version.”

Japan has long sought to include the advanced stealth fighter in its aircraft inventory, and the Australian government also has expressed interest in the F-22.

A federal prohibition against foreign military sales of the F-22 — aimed at keeping sensitive military technology from hostile governments — stands in the way of both countries acquiring the Raptor.

Japan has said it would spend the estimated $1 billion it would cost to convert the current F-22 line to produce a version for foreign military sales, said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.

The $140 million F-22 is one of six potential contenders — including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — to replace Japan’s aging fleet of F-4s.

In April, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the F-22 line would be shut down and the program capped at 187 fighters. The following month, Gates told Japanese defense officials the country should look at the F-35 as a replacement fighter instead of the F-22, according to Japanese media reports.

Thompson said the F-22 has emerged as a more likely option because it would cost less and would be available sooner. North Korea’s recent missile launch has provided more U.S. sympathy toward Japan acquiring new fighters, he said.

“North Korea seems to be going out of its way to prove Japan needs cutting-edge military technology,” Thompson said.

Japan is considering a buy of 40 to 60 planes, if it can get approval, he said.

Mackenzie Eaglen, an analyst with the Heritage Foundation, said a version of the Raptor for foreign military sales would protect thousands of jobs and the defense-industrial base.

“It reduces the cost per unit. Everybody wins,” she said.

One F-22 skeptic, however, said Japan should not invest its defense funds in the Raptor. Winslow Wheeler, an analyst with the Center for Defense Information, has long said the F-22 is more expensive and less capable than the Air Force or manufacturer Lockheed Martin claims.

“None of it makes a slightest bit of sense. It just strikes me as inane that anybody would be interested in buying that thing,” Wheeler said.