Posted on 04/20/2007 9:12:57 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
F-22 attractive to Japan as missile threats grow
Apr 20, 2007
David A. Fulghum/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
Japanese military officials are eyeing the F-22 Raptor as an antidote to growing regional missile threats, Aviation Week & Space Technology will report on April 23.
The Lockheed Martin-built fighter is expected to become a key element in missile defense because it can detect and destroy small cruise missiles and also evade sophisticated air defenses to bomb ballistic missile launch sites. Whether Japanese law might be interpreted to allow the country's Self Defense Force to use the bombing to defend against ballistic missiles is still an open question.
Japanese military officials are quietly but firmly making it known they want the U.S. to release the F-22 to compete for its air force's F-X fighter program, and that they are adamant in wanting to field the most advanced air combat technology available.
Tokyo wants a stealthy fighter equipped with an active electronically scanned radar for cruise missile detection and wideband data links to push additional information into Japan's increasingly sophisticated air defense system - a package offered, for the moment, only by the F-22.
"I'm aware the Japanese are interested in the F-22," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week in response to an Aviation Week question. "I'm also aware of our concerns about what we export and don't export of our high technologies. The Japanese are very close friends. We're committed to protecting Japan, so we'll work our way through it. We all need to be concerned about both ballistic and cruise missile defense. It's something that we...need to work on."
However, Congress is demanding oversight and approval of any plan for foreign sale of the stealth fighter, and active marketing of the aircraft is prohibited. The U.S. has been trying to pitch either an upgrade of in-service designs (such as F/A-18E/Fs or F-15Es equipped with advanced, small-target, long-range radars) or the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for the F-X program. The primary driver for the F-X requirement remains air superiority - which includes cruise missile defense - for which Tokyo wants the F-22 made available.
Release of the F-22 is becoming a point of pride with the Japanese, who provide the U.S. forward bases in the region as well as dispersal and rapid deployment options in case of a military confrontation or natural disaster in the region, U.S. officials say.
This was the whole F’ing point of the F-35/JSF. These guys were all supposed to get in line behind it and fund it. Now they all see what the Raptor can do and they salivate and say, no no no...I want THAT! No Japan/eveyone else you buy F-35s because you wanted a multi purpose fighter to better suite your needs.
At 250 million+ a plane no one else will be able to afford f-22 anyway.
I’m torn by this. I want Japan to be a democratic buffer against china and I know they are one of our closest allies. However, I also know that they are thousands of chinese spies in Japan just waiting to rip our F-22 tech off and send it home to the commies. I wish they would just settle for the F-35,EF, or beefed up F-15’s. We need air dominance and a small leak can change the ballgame.
The alternatives you mentioned give Japan atmost minimial superiority-not overwhelming superiority which is the difference between deterrence & war.
Here’s another way out-Increase the USAF’s quota of F-22s & send atleast 100 to bases in the Far East.Oops,but the US government is trying it’s best to cut existing numbers.On the other hand,if Japan buys 100 Raptors(even downgraded ones),costs will come down & the USAF buys more.Japan manufactures lot of cutting edge technology itself-they had their own AESA radar programme for their F-2 fighter even before US fighters received theirs.
I agree but we know how china is. Thats a threat I hope the US isnt willing to take. The EF or super F-15 would be all Japan really needs.
I have no problem with Japan, Austriala, and Isreal buying these fighters foir 2 reasons:
1. They are allies in dangerous ares who need the best to keep the peace and to defend themselves.
2. The more we make the lower the unit cost adn teh more we can buy for our needs.
Japan needs to replace their F-4 flight first & in a couple of years,their Eagles too.They will need the Raptor to get the kind of protection they have enjoyed.& Frankly,they of most allies deserve it.
I don’t know about Australia.For one,they have never operated the cutting edge in US technology & with their current level of spending,they cannot afford more than 20
F-22s,which is frankly too limited.
Maybe so maybe not, if Japan places a large order. I figure they would order at least 60 if not over 100, then hte unit cost will drop a great deal.
Well, the characters are, but since the fall of the Han Dynasty almost 2,000 years ago, their usage and meaning has changed greatly. Some of the text seems to be in Katakana, as well, but it's too small and blurry to read.
I would love to see my country buy these. I understand the security risks from espionage, but the United States, with it's open-door policies regarding foreign workers in key positions is more apt to have leaks than Japan. We have no "Bill of Rights" in our national law; not that I know of anyway.
From what I have read here, Japan is still very interested in the JSF for naval operations and the like. The main appeal of the F-22 is, as the article states, for interdiction of cruise missles and destruction of launch sites, which China has in great number all along it's coastline. If and when China starts to move agressively in this region to expand it's influence via military means, which many people here see as inevitable, you know that will be be right at the side of the U.S. in countering this agression. And when that time comes we are going to need the best tools we can get, because we will be vastly outnumbered.
Did not Japan sell advances sub propeller technology to the Chicoms? Chicoms subs used to be loud and slow, now with help from Japan they are quite and fast. I like Japan but we can't afford to let our best technology go to the Chicoms.
Toshiba. Never forget. I won’t buy anything from them.
I think it was to the Russians, not the Chicoms.
Am I the only one that remember Toshiba selling advanced machine tools to the Soviets that allowed them to produce much quiter sub props?
Nope at least three of us remember. I thought it was to the Chicoms not the Russians.
Japan really should want an F-15K with AESA radar. They have an F-15 line already, so it wouldn't be insurmountable to change over to building F-15E airframes.
However, since the Japanese have had the F-15 since the 1970s, they view the F-15K as "old technology."
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