Why America Doesn't sell F-22 Raptor

F-22 Raptors considered the first fifth-generation fighter in the US Air Force inventory using low observable technologies modern avionics and efficient engines to offer an air superiority fighter unmatched by any other modern military the f-22 Raptor a critical component of the Global Strike task force is designed to project air dominance rapidly and at great distances and defeat threats attempting to deny access to our nation's Air Force Army Navy and Marine Corps the f-22 cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft at one time the US Air Force is now retired f-22 program was the most expensive and most advanced fighter in the world it was equipped only by the USAF's 5th generation system.
The f-35 but even during its development the united states congress ensured the US military couldn't share the technology with anyone even allies yet American allies were the first to use the more advanced f-35 fighter in combat what's the difference the sixty-two billion dollar f-22 program would have certainly had some of the research and development costs alleviated had the sale of the fighter been approved for American allies but the Obey amendment to the 1998 Department of Defense Appropriations Act very specifically prevents the sale of the f-22 Raptor to any foreign government and they were lining up to buy developing the kind of technology that makes the f-22s radar signature closer to that of a bumblebee would take billions of dollars in untold years to develop independently why would a country allied with the United States want to make that kind of military effort when they could just purchase the tech well until they received the f-35 s they simply couldn't Israel wanted the f-22 Japan was very interested in obtaining some f-22s for its self-defense forces if Japan was able to buy South Korea would have wanted parity then Singapore then Australia even China would have expressed an interest despite the passage of time Japan's neighbors are still worried about the rebirth of militarism in the island nation and now that China's own air forces are developing advanced stealth fighters of their own the need for stealth fighters in the hands and the skies of American allies is more important than ever and this was true even in the 1990s but congressman Dave obey wasn't having any of it the congressman worried the D stealth technology on the f-22 which still makes a smaller radar cross-section than even the f-35 would end up in the hands of China or Russia if sold the allies especially Israel it seems Congress was worried the Israelis would leak us tech to China the way American intelligence believes Israel aided China in the development of its j-10 fighter since then the House of Representatives has had a number of debates and discussions about whether or not they should repeal the law the Department of Defense remains neutral on the subject but critics of the Obey amendment argue that critical American.

industries would stand to benefit from parts and continued production of the f-22 parts of the plane are made in plants in Marietta Georgia to Palmdale California and a few places in between American manufacturing centers have had to sink the cost of research and development as well as advanced manufacturing techniques since the production of the fighter ended ultimately the f-22 program was ended because it was very costly and the need for an air-to-air fighter chief counter Soviet fighters just wasn't the US military's priority any longer the US military purchased 183 Raptors well short of the proposed 381 but then China and Russia began producing next-generation fighters anyway so u.s. doubled down on the Joint Strike Fighter so why can our allies like Israel and Japan get the world's most advanced multi-role fighter the f-35 was always intended to be an internationally developed fighter system u.s. allies were always supposed to have access to it and help bear the cost of developing all that mighty tech much of which was developed in the quest for the f-22 Lockheed Martin the leading manufacturer of stealth aircraft in the world proposed a new hybrid between the f-22 Raptor and the f-35 lightning on April 22nd, 2018 for Japan to purchase and it could easily be outclassed the US Air Force Japan has for decades wanted in on the US Air Force's f-22 a long-range high-capacity stealth fighter that perfectly suits its defense needs except one problem u.s. won't sell it while completing the f-22 u.s. ruled out its sale to allies as the technology involved in the plane was too advanced for export but this decision took place 11 years ago in 2007 today the u.s. is in the process of selling japan the f-35 multi-role strike aircraft but according to justin Bronk an air combat expert at the Royal United Services Institute the planes design makes it less than ideal for Tokyo the f-35 is primarily a strike aircraft intended to hit well defended targets on the ground and is limited in air-to-air combat because of its size its single-engine and the way it was designed Bronk said but because Russian and Chinese jets constantly pasture Japan's airspace Tokyo wants a more air dominance focused jet the f-22 can cruise at 60,000 feet going about 1.5 times the speed of sound without igniting the afterburners meaning it can maintain its stealth well covering incredible distances in short times the f-35 is a capable fighter but can't touch those numbers along with a bigger missile loadout it's a much more capable for air superiority tasks Bronk said of the f-22 the striker role that Japan really cares about is not really the one that the f-35 is designed for he added that Japan would love a jet that can fire anti-ship missiles but that the f-35 is just too small to hold them inside it's stealthy weapon base President Donald Trump has moved to loosen up restrictions on foreign military sales and could potentially revisit the decade-old ruling on selling the f-22 as the sensitive technology it uses has aged and become less cutting edge but that same advancement in technology is likely doomed the f-22s restart Bronk said the cost of restarting the f-22 production were not trivial and even if Japan offered to pay a lot of the electronic components computer chips and things are not built anymore the f-22 had a decade's long development that started off with 1980s era technology if you are going to put the f-22 into production now it's hard to justify doing without updating the electronics Bronk said once the electronics became updated and take up less space and throw off the balance of the jet the flight software would need an update once the flight software starts getting updated it starts to look like a new fighter program Bronk said this would create a serious headache for the US Air Force in the end Lucky's proposal looks like an f-22 airframe jammed with f-35 era technology essentially stripping the best part of each jet and combining them in a plane that would outclass either if it can stomach the costs then not only would Japan have a fantastic fighter on its hands but perhaps problematically it would be more capable than anything the US Air Force is flying Bronk explained in the end the US Air Force would end up in a very difficult position having to live with Japan getting a better fighter for spending money earmarked for f-35s which the u.s. sees as the future of its force on another aircraft it didn't come.