Posted on 05/01/2007 8:10:40 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Japan asks U.S. for more data on F-22 fighter
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma has asked U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates for more information about the F-22 fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin Corp. , a senior Japanese official said on Tuesday.
U.S. law currently bans any exports of the F-22 Raptor, but some lawmakers and defense officials say there is growing interest in making it possible to export a modified version of the advanced fighter to close allies such as Japan.
"If we make the F-22 a candidate, we need full information on this air fighter," said the official, who asked not to be named.
Japanese military officials are eyeing the supersonic F-22, the U.S. Air Force's main air superiority fighter, as part of their response to growing regional missile threats.
The Japanese official said Kyuma discussed the F-22 with Gates during their meeting on Monday, saying Japan would need more data on the fighter jet's specifications so it could be formally considered in an upcoming competition.
Kyuma asked Gates "to provide us with more information so that we may proceed," the official said.
Japan is aware of U.S. congressional concerns about protecting the F-22's classified technologies, he added.
But resistance to exports appears to be weakening, according to U.S. congressional officials and analysts.
The House of Representatives last year voted to remove the export ban on the F-22, which is attached to the annual defense appropriations legislation, but the measure was reinserted during conference negotiations with the Senate.
The issue is important to Lockheed and its F-22 partners -- Boeing Co. and United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney unit -- because overseas sales could extend the production line beyond 2011, when the last of the 183 Raptors currently planned is due to be sent to the U.S. Air Force.
One senior U.S. defense official told Reuters on Tuesday that there was a growing feeling "that this be the right time to look at it," although he cautioned that there were no concrete plans to move ahead at this point.
Advocates for foreign sales had not yet reached "a critical mass," said the official, who asked not to be named.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, who heads the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, also warned last week that designing an export version of the F-22 could cost more than $1 billion and be "prohibitively expensive" for any would-be foreign buyer.
The aircraft, which entered the U.S. combat fleet in December 2005 after 20 years of development, currently costs $136 million per copy, not including development costs.
The first F-22 overseas deployment was to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan, this year. Twelve are still in the region.
Loren Thompson, a defense analyst close to the Pentagon and to military contractors, said the F-22's ability to fly at supersonic speeds meant it was uniquely suited to chasing down cruise missiles that could be directed at Japan.
The F-22 would be an integral part of any future missile defense architecture involving Japan, said Thompson, of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute.
Israel is also widely reported to have shown interest in acquiring the F-22.
Maybe we should send a copy of the data to Kim Jong Il too?
Yeah now Chia Pet is off Dubya axis of evil list send these stuff to CHIA PET
The Japanese are excellent allies and our interests in the region are closely aligned. They also have an excellent record at protecting classified data - not perfect, but frankly better than our government’s. They aren’t the best trading partner in the world but I view that as a separate issue.
I took some graduate engineering courses at GE Medical Systems in the mid 80's. At that time GE was trying to export its new CAT Scanners to markets in Japan to no avail.
The Japanese government claimed that the Japanese race were different physiologically from Americans and could not accept test data from US sources, further to do their own tests the Japanese government had to have complete plans of the GE equipment.
As you can guess that information made its way into the hands of GE's Japanese competitors which had a late start in these machines, but made up ground quickly.
Bullshit. There is a case on record of a Japanese military man leaking aegis technology to his chinese plant wife. Thank the lord you aren’t in charge of our secrets
I don't.
They just want to steal the technology. The US is the only country that should be allowed the F22!
Companies in business to make money is a fact. Japan is a good ally. More dependable than western Europe.
Sell it to em. Any luck and they might use them to bomb chicom food processing plants and my two poor cats might have a shot at dying of old age....
We don't know that, hasn't been much time between WWII and today. On the other hand, Western Europe has shown again and again to be a trustworthy ally. Americans and Europeans have the same world view and same faith, by and large. Japanese are still angry about Hiroshima/Nagasaki. They were an extremely brutal people throughout their history, especially during WWII. They were taught a lesson and they learned it well, but this does not make them an ally equal to say, GB, Italy, Australia, etc.
And by the way, though companies are in business to make money, that's no excuse to sell our best best jet, the F22, to any foreign nation. Once on foreign soil, its technology and design will be in the hands of the enemy in no time at all.
errr! Recent global politics indicate that, Japan is a good ally.
If there is no reduction in our price, and the only benefit is to LM's bottom line then it becomes much harder to justify.
We have sold quite a lot of advanced military hardware to the Japanese and overall they have been pretty responsible with it. Nothing is perfect.
Can you name even one other nation which has actually attacked America?...
WWII was only one generation ago.
Japan was a very good ally then too.
Right up until the time those (Mitsubishi) Zeros came flying into Pearl Harbor.
Time changes things. As I said, there hasn't been enough time between 1945 and now to claim they are a stalwart ally, equal to W. Europe. They are a current ally, but we still have thousands of troops on their soil and we strongly discourage them from building a powerful military. We should give NOBODY our best technology, no matter what the dollar figure is.
Snort - like their great support for the Iraq war?
Ever been to Japan? I lived there for 2 years working in the US Embassy (off Roppongi). I would have to rate Japan as a better ally than Italy sorry. Japan is a large nation with many and varied political views, but their overall opinion of the US is very favorable.
Are they perfect - heck no - they are still fundamentally racist - but so is everyone else is Asia.
I once was at a dinner party in Tokyo. There was an old Japanese gentleman there who was very badly disfigured. He didn't have much of a face. I don't know how it came up but he told us that he was in Nagasaki as a boy when we dropped the bomb. The room suddenly got quiet and uncomfortable. He went on to say that he understood perfectly why we used the bomb and that he SUPPORTED the decision - in spite of the personal cost to himself. Japan is a complex nation - stereotyping anything is foolish.
Sorry amigo - Japan was not a good ally before WWII and the Japan of today is a different country. Who are the Japanese going to ally with against us anyway? The Chinese - give me a break.
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