Over at The Daily Standard, Dan Blumenthal makes some interesting and important points regarding the sale of the super advanced F-22 Raptor to the Japanese Self Defense Force. From an economic standpoint, it’s win-win. Lockheed employs over 3300 personnel at their F-22 plants in Georgia and Texas, jobs that will mostly disappear once that last F-22 rolls off the assembly line. Congress, simply by signing over the technology to a trusted ally, can protect every one of those jobs –and perhaps create new ones– on Japan’s dime.
I’d even take it a step further, and offer the F-22 to Australia as well. Both nations have clamored for the jet as a replacement to the F-4 Phantom and F/A-18 Super Hornet, respectively, and both have a common interest in containing a rapidly mobilizing China. Furthermore, any additional Raptors that we can sell to our allies, the cheaper the jet becomes for domestic purchase, as assembly line costs are inversely proportional to the number of jets Lockheed can push through its factories.
In a time of economic crisis, we can ill afford ignoring solutions which cost the US taxpayer nothing and indeed save the government money. That beats the Detroit auto bailout any day of the week.
–John Noonan
A Bailout I Can Believe In
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I believe the benefits of selling the F-22 to our closest allies far out weighs the risks. The only complications I see is China getting upset about us giving Japan the new fighter, but I don’t see what China could do about it (realistically speaking).
yes please sell it to us I am an Aussie and I for one would love to see us with a strong defense force,we already have your tanks and AFV’s so why not latest planes aswell,ha I don’t see the JSF being ready in time….for anybody! Plus I reckon you americans owe us for tagging along with all your international adventures in the last 50 odd years,cheers
Yea except just letting the President know that China won’t be buying any more US government bonds in the future.
Since the standard of living in the US needs to fall to about half of what it is now, wouldn’t it be funny if the last thing Bush did was trigger it.
I would be concerned about technology leaping from Japan to China. Japan hasn’t had a great record with that recently…
Adam — I agree that Australia is one of our best and most stalwart ally, and without doubt can be trusted with the technology.
Though I hope that the Aussies went along on our “adventures” because they share the same values as their American cousins, and not to curry favor with the world’s only superpower.
Selling the F22 is stupid, because these “allies” have nothing to lose if China steals the tech from them. After all, the only loss is the hundreds of billions the US spent developing technological superiority, which would be lost. It isn’t Japan’s investment to protect, so when Chinese spies use sex to steal the tech (again), all the US will get from japan is a “my bad!”
The reason the F22 is not being sold thus far, is because Japan has repeatedly demonstrated lax security and has been penetrated by the Chinese.
It is not worth US national security for a pathetic argument over a few thousand jobs when our economy is losing millions of jobs.
The F22 is too expensive for Japan and Australia anyway. Those countries would are better off with the F35.
adam, I reckon you owe the US for protection you from the Japanese in WW2, so kiss it.
Australia is only a good ally when a pro-US politician is elected. None of the US allies can be trusted to back us no matter what. The only nation that comes remotely close is the UK, but even there I wouldn’t bet on it. Every nation is out for themselves.
Australia…sure. Hell, give a few to the Aussies for free I say. Japan, no way. The Japanese are American allies only for as long as it benefits them. Ignore the saber rattling, the US is only going to get closer to China out of economic necessity in the future. As the US gets closer to China, Japan is going to go hunting for insurance against China. My bet is they go knocking on Russia’s door first.
This is really Lockheed holding 3300 jobs ransom so they can sell the deadliest fighter jet in the world to other countries. They aren’t hurting for cash, they just want more.
In any case I just don’t see the Obama administration allowing this to happen, even for 3300 jobs.
At the height of the Cold War, it was a large Japanese company that sold technology to the USSR for building advanced submarine screws. This single act of betrayal gave Russia a credible submarine force with which to threaten the existence of the US. Japan cannot be trusted with vital US technology.
Australia might be trust worthy, but is unlikely to be able to afford it.
If we end the production run we will only ever have 200 or so F22′s. This spells long term doom for the air craft; as time roles on and they need parts replaced the expense of keeping them in the air will be dependent on how long the production was running and how many other nations need parts. If we sell to even a single nation it will allow us to reconsider purchasing additional fighters later on and will decrease the cost to purchase and maintain them. Other wise we’re always going to have too few of the F22.
Its also important to realize that Japan and Australia want the F22 so badly they’re willing to take a version that is technically watered down or export safe from our perspective.
I say sell the fighters, but do it in a smart way.
Ok, the point the article makes actually swings both ways!
Why is it important to make a quick buck, when if we give away this equipment, we are essentially giving other people the knowledge with which they could go and build their own items!
In this time of crisis it’s important to keep our technological advantage in manufacturing and technology! This should be the focus, not making a quick buck or selling off our assets to improve a deficit.
I think we should keep the F-22 to ourselves.
If anyone else gets their hands on it, we lose a step ahead of the world.
Cheers!
i wouldnt go so far as to trust japan with the technology tbh. it is already well known that much of their large korean minority supply a large portion of NK’s income through their businesses in Japan, for example.
Unfortunately, Japan is too much of a liability to risk selling such advanced technology to. Not to mention the political backlash such a sale would do with regards to China. I think Australian sales wouldnt cause as much political damage as sale to Japan..theres also Japan’s constitution to think about.
Sell it to everybody and use the funds for robotic air combat aircraft that could easily shoot down an F-22. Now we are talking about a win-win situation.
Use the money to give us a leap in technology instead of the taxpayers money.
So how exactly would the F-22 Export version differ from the American aircraft?
Re Japan: If security were that big of a concern. You could always collocate the Japanese F-22s on an American base. It would ensure proper access, personnel, and procedures are maintained. As well as a program to conduct joint background checks & personnel monitoring by both countries.
How about Canada?
We need a replacement and Canada can be trusted.
Heck if we have a decent force perhaps we can carry our own wait going forth.
A couple years ago there was a proposal for an export F-22 strictly for Australia. I could possibly see that happening but the US should absolutely not share the F-22 with any other country, including Japan. Our national security and superiority should never ever be at risk.
Re: selling F22s to canada
Yawn,
while you make valid points about the trustworthiness of Canadians, you need ot remember there is no economic reason to sell to them. as you may recall when we sold them the F 18s they paid about $2 billion but required a $2.3 billion investment package be made in the country. thus netting the Canadians 300 million dollars of profit.
the reason for this is that the canadian govt. all but requires that any fighters they buy be built in Canada. further, as with the F5, once the production line is in Canada they tend to handle all the foreign sales of the air frame.
Guys, what point is there in keeping the F-22 Raptor exclusively for our own use?
We can’t afford enough of them to make a real difference, unless we sell some elsewhere…
And, the Russians are quite happy to sell the latest Sukhoi to whoever’s interested!
We’re also very busy cutting the number of F-35s we’re going to buy, so if our Allies don’t get our technology, we’re all going to have to kowtow to whoever’s using the latest Russian equipment!
Sorry, but the “good old days” of the Eagle and the Tomcat being the best fighters in the world are long gone, and we need to do *something* to correct the problem!
{Yes, I’d sell the Raptor to the Israelis, too…
even if I *knew* that they’d turn around and sell the tech to the Chinese!}
Remember the old British line, about “Whatever happens, we have the Maxim gun, and they have not?”
The British had exactly ONE Maxim gun, while the Germans had lots, and lots, of Spandaus…
“Selling the F22 is stupid, because these “allies” have nothing to lose if China steals the tech from them.”
ORLY??? I’m sure Japan would be thrilled! You know as China and Japan have so much love for each other. Here you go China, have our F-22 technology. Thanks for restoring my previous impression of the incredible imbecility of this website’s comments.
>I think Australian sales wouldnt cause as much
>political damage as sale to Japan.
pro-China Kevin Rudd is nothing but a communist China’s puppet. If Japan and Australia wants Raptor, they should cut all political and economic ties to China, stop trading with them and shut down their embassy at China. No sales of Raptors, not even Israel that sold UAV and F-16 related technologies to China.
Pedestrian,
Wouldn’t that by hypocritical considering how much of our national debt is owed to China or the trade imbalance? Selling advanced aircraft to very close and valuable allies should be based on how that technology will be protected once in the other country’s hands. The question should be whether they are willing to protect the secrecy of these aircraft to the same extent or greater than what we currently do.
The few countries that want this aircraft should be able to afford that level of security.
The things we build and we build well everyone in the world wants. That goes from Caterpillar tractors to Lockheed F-22s. This is what creates the high paying American jobs other “aged” sectors are losing. It is the same reason most people recommend buying a German automobile as the best in the world.
DC2
DC2
DC2
Aren’t you Yankees making an enormous burp about that (very slight, very disputable) technological advantage which the F-22 TEMPORARILY enjoys over other fighter designs in the World? What if the Europeans or Russians suddenly bring out something far better? Were you ever aware in advance when the former Soviets rolled out a new fighter type or nuclear missile or submarine etc., and if so, what did you do about it? You weren’t even fully aware of the potential of Russia’s new hyper-speed torpedoes when they offered them you for sale – you just refused the opportunity! (Now Iran bought them en masse)
With so much noise about standing the next few years on one Nr. 1 podium I suspect it must be a wholly new sensation for you. So enjoy it: It won’t last forever!
To the author of htis article, John Noonan:
You wrote: “In a time of economic crisis, we can ill afford ignoring solutions which cost the US taxpayer nothing and indeed save the government money. That beats the Detroit auto bailout any day of the week.”
Continuing exactly this line of thought, why not reducing the whole goddamn’ U.S. Armed Forces ( $$$ … ) to the approximate size of the REAL threats which they have to repeal every day and in the foreseeable future, which are: None?
Or is this institution called the “U.S. Armed Forces” nothing but a mix of State-run Economy and a job center, an end in itself?