'Pentagon's F-22 buy may signal export'

The Jerusalem Post ^ | Dec 15, 2008 0:31 | By YAAKOV KATZ

[EasySt]

That's one of my favorites, too. Here are some others I've found. (a couple of these are available at good resolutions at its picture link. Click the pic, then click "All Sizes".)



(up to 3000x1954 on this one...)

[familyop]

"And that is the real trap too. If we sell F-22's to Israel we will have to sell them to the Saudi's."

No, we won't. We were fortunate to have one pro-American ruling King among the Saudis during the early '90s and another one for now. The Saudis are also accustomed to depending on us for certain kinds of security tasks. Also, the Saudis need about $50 per barrel of oil to break even and won't have the revenues that they've enjoyed over the past few years. Deflation is likely to go even further.

[bpjam]

as a Jew, I have the same concerns. We have about 90% overlap in our goals, objectives and interests. But that 10% difference can be huge when we are talking about a fighter technology which costs us $100B to develop and is going to be the fighter for the next 20 years.

I’d be looking at what features on the fighter could be exported and what parts would be saved for the USAF exclusively. We’ve done that with the F-15s.

I don’t want ANYBODY shortening the gap technologically between us and our enemies - even one of our allies. The definition of ally is that you don’t harm your friends in the interests of helping yourselves.

[Free_in_Alabama]

And Japan. They will be facing China at our side.

[GSP.FAN]

WOW..Gotta look after my 2 month old ..Later

[PAR35]

Israel,

Why not cut out the middle man, and send the technology directly to China. (If you want to get it to Russia, the Japanese would be a better choice.)

[EasySt]

That’s a great site! Thanks!

[Carry_Okie]

Not after Israel sold Patriot missile technology to the Chinese.

Fool me once...

[gaijin]

why don’t we just sell them to CHINA also? same thing, right? Let’s get paid!

[rmlew]

While the concern is valid and the reason why we aren't exporting this, our crown jewels, I doubt Israel would do it.
China has been helping Iran, and has sold weapons to all of Israel's enemies, including Hizbullah. Not to be cynical, but China doesn't need the help. Lockheed has been caught transfering technology to China and too many of our defense contractors have their civilians sides tied to the ChiComs.

[Gene Eric]

Very cool - an amazing bird.

[MNSlim]

I’m skeptical that any air force would be eager at this juncture to take on the daunting operational challenges attendant to operating an F-22 squadron. The JSF is the platform of the future.

[Terpfen]

The F-22 is strictly a Fighter.

Which of course is why it now carries the /A designation, right?

The F-35 is multi roll.

The phrase you're looking for is adaptable. There exist three different variants of the base F-35 design in order to best serve the different needs of the branch services, with the most notable difference between the three versions being the way they take off: the Air Force gets a standard takeoff plane, the Marines get a vertical takeoff plane, and the Navy gets a short takeoff plane for carriers.

By the way, a roll is a pastry. The correct word is role.

As for Israel, they can have the F-35 like everyone else. The F/A-22 is ours.

[Smokin' Joe]

Boy, that is stealthy...

[Tommyjo]

The F-22 is multi-role. With the retirement of the F-117 the F-22 has taken over it role.

http://www.f-16.net/news_article2040.html

http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=199

[Tommyjo]

The F/A designation was only carried for a short while. It was renamed the F-22A.

[SunkenCiv]

"If the F-22 is made available, we will bring it here as soon as possible, no matter what the price is," a top IAF officer said last week.

The Fairness Doctrine will be expanded, so that, to make things fair, all of Israel's not-too-neighborly neighbors, including Hamas and the Hizzies, also get F-22s.

[MarkL]

I hate to say this, but I'm not 100% sure that I agree with the US exporting the F22 to Israel. While I'm a supporter of Israel, I'm an American first, and given the upcoming administration, I've got a feeling that we're going to see a hard shift in support or Israel's enemies. That just might make Israel "feel the need" for more friends, and that could lead to the transfer of technology to those countries who are NOT friendly to the US.

Mark

[EQAndyBuzz]

Sell Israel the F35. Doesn’t matter. They will rip out the avionics anyway and install their own.

If we sell Israel the F22, sell them only 5. And make each one nuclear capable. Then let the world know Israel has them.

[bmwcyle]

Great pictures!