Multiple benefits if Japan buys F-22

By Lawrence Korb and Peter Juul


Once the Cold War ended, the Pentagon should have stopped developing the F-22 Raptor, manufactured in Marietta.

But it did not, and over the past 20 years the Air Force has spent about $70 billion on this aircraft.

Now that the Obama administration and the Congress have agreed to limit the number of F-22s to 187 planes, the question of foreign military sales for the F-22 arises, just as it did for its predecessors, the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18.

So far only one country, Japan, has expressed an interest in buying the plane.

This is not surprising given the fact that these aircraft will cost the purchaser more than $200 million each.

But there is a problem.

The Pentagon is currently prohibited by a law enacted in 1998 from exporting the plane.

Although the main purpose of the law was to prevent the export of sensitive technology to areas like the Middle East, another purpose was to end the program before it moved into full production.

By prohibiting foreign sales, those opposed to the program hoped that they would drive the unit costs for DOD so high that its leaders would be forced to cancel the program.

Moreover, the office of the secretary of defense invested so much political capital in stopping production at 187 planes for the Air Force that it does not want to take any step that would keep the F-22 production line open.

Unfortunately, the strategy didn’t work and when the development costs are factored in, the Air Force had to spend $350 million on each plane.

By not letting the Japanese buy 40 or so of the aircraft, the Congress and the Obama administration will not rectify the mistake.

Some sensitive technologies on the F-22 need to be protected, but doing so will require changes to less than 10 percent of the aircraft.

Such changes have been done on every other front line fighter we have exported, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is being produced in several countries.

Moreover, the Japanese are willing to pay for the cost of developing and testing these changes and have an excellent record of safeguarding sensitive technology.

The sale of the F-22s to Japan will have substantial economic and security benefits for the U.S. Japan would pay about $10 billion for 40 of the planes, thus helping our balance of payments situation and keeping tens of thousands of workers employed until 2017.

Moreover, the F-22 would make U.S and Japanese forces more interoperable, allow the U.S. to have a smaller footprint in East Asia, and obviate the need for the Air Force to purchase more F-22s.

Finally, by giving the Japanese a weapon that they are sure can be used to penetrate North Korean air defenses to attack a missile site in that rogue nation, it will lessen their incentive to go nuclear.

Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration, is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Peter Juul is a research associate at the center.