[maddog55]

Concur.. F-22 is a far superior aircraft.

[Squantos]

Throw some AIM 120’s on a Cessna 180 and call it a day...... yes vote of F22’s.

[Dundee]

What part of no longer being built and prohibited for export escapes the good Wing Commander? The USAF can’t get more built so getting the production line restarted just for the RAAF isn’t happening.

[The Free Engineer]

It would have been a good idea.

I suppose the production line no longer exists however, and much of the talent at Lockheed in Georgia has likely moved on.

But the F-22 should have been offered to Australia, and Japan, and Poland.

[Yo-Yo]

You think the F-35 is expensive, wait until you see the price tag to reconstitute the F-22 line for a run of 48 aircraft.

Australia erred tremendously when they purchased F/A-18F and EA-18G Hornets to replace their F-111Cs and Gs.

The correct replacement for the F-111's maritime patrol and interdiction role was the F-15E.

The Super Hornets are a good replacement for their aging F/A-18As and Bs.

[PIF]

“... the export itself is currently banned on national security grounds ...”

The Obey Amendment stopped the export. Obey was an extreme partisan Democrat whose motive was: if it hurts the US then its a good thing. National security was a distant secondary concern.

This amendment could be overridden at any time should the Congress so choose.

[hattend]

Pretty sure if the assembly line restarted on the F-22, the plane would never be exported.

[MasterGunner01]

That maybe true, but the F-22 production line is closed and the tooling broken up and junked. It would be cost prohibitive to reopen it. Ergo, Oz is stuck with the F-35, if it can afford them.