This is confusing when you see this report:
I had posted it here:
http://www.defence.pk/forums/military-forum/18279-pentagons-plan-buy-f-22s-may-signal-export.html
'Pentagon's plan to buy F-22s may signal export' | Israel | Jerusalem Post
'Pentagon's plan to buy F-22s may signal export'
The Israel Air Force is hopeful that a new Pentagon plan to buy 60 F-22 stealth fighter jets will include a push to end a congressional ban on exporting the stealth aircraft, senior defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post.
"If the F-22 is made available, we will bring it here as soon as possible, no matter what the price is," a top IAF officer said last week. "To have strong deterrence and to win a conflict, we need to have the best aircraft in existence."
A single-seater, double-engine aircraft, the F-22 achieves stealth though a combination of its shape, composite materials, color and other integrated systems, and can fly in enemy airspace without being detected.
Israel has had its sights on the F-22 since its development began in the early 1990s. Today, it is the only 5th generation fighter jet fully operational with stealth capabilities. It is called the "Raptor" by the US Air Force, which operates squadrons out of Virginia, Florida and New Mexico.
Last week, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Michael Mullen said the US Air Force planned to buy 60 more F-22s, bringing the total number ordered to 243. One reason the USAF wanted additional F-22s, Mullen said, was out of concern that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - which is currently under development by Lockheed Martin and which Israel plans to purchase - would run into delays.
"It's very important we have capability to bridge to that [F-35] system with respect to the broad range of capabilities for the country," Mullen was quoted as saying.
Each F-22 costs about $150 million, and the jet's rising cost is one reason the USAF has scaled back from initial procurement plans of more than 700 to 243.
The American media has speculated that the new USAF order will include a push to end the congressional ban on the export of the F-22. In addition to Israel, Japan and Australia have expressed interest in purchasing the aircraft.
Winslow Wheeler, the director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information in Washington, told the Post that the USAF was interested in removing the congressional ban to raise production volume and thus lower the price of each plane. However, he said the F-22 would still be overpriced and would be disappointing in its performance.
While the IAF is currently determined to purchase the JSF F-35, defense officials said Sunday that an official order would only be made toward the second quarter of 2009, once the final price of the plane was determined.
In the meantime, the IAF is exploring purchasing additional F-16s and F-15s to replace older model aircraft that will be phased out in the coming years, as well as to fill the gap that will be created if the JSF is delayed as Mullen predicts. Lockheed Martin has said that Israel would begin receiving the JSF in 2014 if it placed an order in the coming months.
"If the JSF is significantly delayed, we will once again consider purchasing additional F-15Is," a military source said.
Japan may be Reconsidering F-22 Buy
December 30, 2008
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Japan reportedly won't purchase any Marietta-built fighter jets, a development that could jeopardize production of the supersonic plane and 2,000 jobs in Cobb County.
Production of the F-22 Raptor has already come into question with President-elect Barack Obama considering halting or reducing the number of planes needed by the U.S. military.
Japan, according to the Daily Yomiuri, wouldn't buy an airplane whose future remains questionable.
"We have a firm impression that its production likely would be halted," a high-ranking Japan Defense Ministry official told the newspaper.
No one was available for comment Monday at the Japanese embassy in Washington.
Lockheed Martin builds the F-22 at factories in Marietta and Texas. A company spokesman wouldn't comment on Japan's relationship with the F-22.
"The Foreign military sale of any U.S. weapons system is a matter of policy determined by the government of the United States [and] is subject to congressional approval," Rob Fuller said Monday via e-mail.
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee with jurisdiction over military affairs, dismissed Monday talk of the F-22's demise.
"I believe that production of the F-22 will continue and, at this time, any final decision by Japan not to seek to procure F-22's is premature," he said in an e-mail message.
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said he wasn't aware that Japan would forgo the fighter.
"Obviously, if there was a threat to the F-22, it would be a severe blow to Lockheed," he added.
The F-22 can cruise at 1,100 miles an hour and destroy air and ground targets while remaining virtually undetectable to radar. But its cost --- $137 million to $300 million --- puts the F-22 squarely in the Obama administration's budget-scouring sights.
U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, the Marietta Republican whose district includes the massive Lockheed Martin factory, said the nation's defense should trump Washington's newly tight-fisted ways.
"There are plenty of naysayers, who maybe don't feel we need to have air superiority," he said. "I would respectfully, totally, disagree with them."
The U.S. Air Force originally intended to buy more than 800 F-22s. The total, though, has been whittled to just over 180. Overseas sales would keep production lines open.
The Pentagon, though, has been reluctant to sell the jet fighter to foreign governments lest its highly advanced technology fall into unfriendly hands. John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a respected military information Web site, said Japan needs the F-22 to maintain air superiority over China.
Japan is considering buying other fighter jets to replace its aging F-15 fleet, including the F-15FX built in the United States and the F-35 Lightning II, produced in the United States, Great Britain and elsewhere. The Defense Ministry is also considering the Eurofighter Typhoon built in Europe.
Pike, the military analyst, said that Washington may have a politically tough time shuttering any factory during a recession.
"These people are coming to work every day on the F-22 production line," he said. "So the notion that we lay all these people off and then come back a year later and give them shovels so they can fill potholes does not sound like a plan."
--- Staff writer Mary McDonald contributed to this article.
