This is the first I have heard of this:
Japan wants to purchase up to 100 of the Air Force’s ultramodern F-22 warplanes, and the subject is expected to be on the agenda of the meeting next week between President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Naturally, the Chinese and their buddies in DC are not happy about this:
Pro-China officials in the Bush administration are working against the sale of the advanced warplane, which has stealth characteristics and is expected to bring harsh criticism from China, which views Japan’s more internationalist military posture as a threat.
Personally, I am of mixed opinion on this. Japan has been a pretty steady ally of the US since that unpleasantness in the 1940s and a Japan that is better able to protect itself is a Japan that is more likely to resist pressure from regional hegemons who might wish to pressure them out of that alliance. It we were going to share the Raptor with anyone, it would be Japan along with the UK.
On the other hand, the F-35 Lightningis also a fine aircraft and will probably be able to hold its own against anything the Chinese might throw at them over the next 20 years. Also, we have already refused to sell the F-22 to Australia and we would have to reconsider that refusal if we sold it to the Japanese.
I would be pleasantly surprised if the Roh administration did not have a hissy fit about this one if it goes through. On the other hand, Roh has pleasantly surprised me from time to time. His idea of Korea being a ‘balancer’ in NE Asia goes right out the window if there is no balance of power in the region.
BTW, here is the F-22 Raptor homepage.
11 Comments
Considering that providing such planes to Taiwan would probably cause more of an outrage, and providing them to ROK might cause an “intelligence risk” ruckus depending on the current views of North/South relations, giving the planes to Japan seems the best alternative.
The sale would remind China that we’re greedy, but not stupid.
good move by the US.
What’s the big deal anyway? Some US Chinese scientist will soon mail them a blue print and his personal photos and analysis, and get red handed caught pretty soon.
Or some white guy will send it to the Israelis, or some dude of random ethnicity will trade it for $50,000 and a night with three Russian hookers, or…
That $50,000 and a night with three Russian hookers thing is overstated. When I was in the service, and handling Tippy-Top Secret materials on a daily basis, I waited with bated breath for someone — Russian, Chinese, North Korean, it didn’t matter — to make the inevitable approach offering to hump the secrets out of me. Regrettably, the offer never came, despite all the tantalizing “warnings” received from the Special Security Officer.
Some of those secrets turned up from time to time on yaki-mandu wrappers on the streets of Songtan, which might have discouraged the Commies from thinking they’d have to ply me with sexual favors and illicit cash.
As one of the Japanese tax payers, I think it is outrageous for Japan to pay $2,000,000 for each fighter jet. We would rather have nuclear bombs which are lot cheaper and more effective to deter Chinese aggression.
Brendon, it’s funny you mention that. I recall getting some “yaki” (dreadful crap) wrapped in the old green/white striped computer paper just loaded with names, social security numbers, ranks, etc. Haven’t seen this lately, but I sure won’t buy that street crap again. They’re probably boiling it in the same oil as they did 14 years ago.
tocchin, try $117 million each.
#1: At the bottom of the article, it mentions a JMSDF guy married to a Chicom with classified Aegis stuff on his home computer. So, perhaps nobody around here is to be trusted.
Anyway, if any foreign country gets a shot at buying the bird, it should be the Aussies.
Maybe we could lease some of the jets to Japan, with security contractors as pilots?
The export ban on F-22s has been enacted by the US Congress on 1998, so if any F-22 were to be exported the US Congress must vote to lift the ban.
Considering the above, there is a strong possibility that PM Abe will bring up the issue in his summit with Pres. Bush, but I seriously doubt that he will ask for 100 F-22s on the spot.
There are however reports that a proposal to sell a downgraded international variant of the F-22 is making its way around Washington (”at the three or four star level and civil decision makers” is how one source puts it) and the US is leaning to export F-22s to trusted allies in order to alleviate productions. So we may see some F-22 exports to Japan, Australia, and Israel around the 2015 ~ 2020 timeframe.
As for the Korean reaction, there is no official reaction so far. But an unnamed S. Korean military official has been quoted as saying that the purchase of F-22s by Japan will “upset the balance of power in NE Asia”, and may force the ROKAF to seriously review its future fighter procurement plans. An unnamed S. Korean defense analyst has also added that “the current 2020 Defense Plan does not take into consideration the procurement of F-22s by Japan thus S. Korea should seriously consider countermeasures to Japanese F-22s”
Despite the above statements, there is no word yet on whether S. Korea will ask for F-22s in the near future. But considering that the ROKAF has had trouble keeping its F-16s in the air due to poor maintenance procedures and siphoning of the maintenance budget for other purposes, one wonders whether they can afford and maintain a highly expensive and complex fighter such as the F-22.
Sorry,
productions >> production costs.
#9: “…one wonders whether they can afford and maintain a highly expensive and complex fighter such as the F-22.”
They can if they keep enough LockMart engineers on site.
As for upsetting the balance of power, treating Japan like an enemy when N. Korea and China are in the neighborhood is not the brightest behavior, but if it increases Korean defense spending, then cool.
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[...] systems. And with a view as much towards China’s military rise as the North Korean threat, America even hinted it might sell Japan the advanced F-22 Raptor stealth fighter (though it later [...]