# Israel retains interest in F22EX (export F22)



## CougarKing (2 Apr 2009)

Whether they will actually get them is another story.



> *Israel Retains Interest in F-22EX Fighters*
> 30-Mar-2009 10:20 EDT
> 
> In April 2007, Flight International reported that Israel had approached the USA about acquiring F-22 stealth fighters, as concern mounted about new threats to the IAF’s regional air superiority from proposed sales of advanced US weapons to the Gulf states, and Israeli assessments of a growing threat from Iran. Sources say that the issue was raised during a trip by US defense secretary Robert Gates to Israel, though Gates replied with briefings designed to encourage Israel to accept the F-35 instead.
> ...


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## tango22a (2 Apr 2009)

Cougar Daddy:

Please don't emphasize quotes in RED...It makes them impossible to read on my lap-top,

Thanks,

tango22a


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## tomahawk6 (2 Apr 2009)

While I would favor Israel,Japan or any of our close allies getting the F-22 the real issue for me is how does the US protect its stealth and other secret technology from being transferred to a third party ? Israel has been guilty of this in the past.


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## GAP (2 Apr 2009)

tango22a said:
			
		

> Cougar Daddy:
> 
> Please don't emphasize quotes in RED...It makes them impossible to read on my lap-top,
> 
> ...



Just as aside....changing the color name to "lime" or "aqua" produce colors which stand out nicely...


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## CougarKing (2 Apr 2009)

GAP said:
			
		

> Just as aside....changing the color name to "lime" or "aqua" produce colors which stand out nicely...



Colours changed to be in line with the suggestions above.


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## starseed (17 Apr 2009)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> While I would favor Israel,Japan or any of our close allies getting the F-22 the real issue for me is how does the US protect its stealth and other secret technology from being transferred to a third party ? Israel has been guilty of this in the past.


Given how much Israel depends on US exports to sustain their military, nevermind that little incident in 1973, I think you could make a pretty persuasive case to Israel to keep F-22s in-house. The IAF is their biggest advantage over their aggressive neighbours, they would have to be fools to bite the hand that feeds.

It would probably be controversial to have Israel be the first country the US allows exports of Raptors, though. There is a shockingly large lunatic fringe that still believes in the whole Zionist world domination conspiracy, both in the US and other western countries. All you have to do is read a few comments on the CBC website any time there is an article involving Israel or the middle east to see that. If the states wanted to export F22s to Israel, they would probably have to lift restrictions on exports to other countries as well - which would piss off just about everyone that invested in the JSF program. I don't think it's going to happen.


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## FoverF (6 Jun 2009)

There are a lot of interests in the US competing over the whole issue of exporting F-22s. The whole issue becomes much simpler if we give them an easy option;

Let the first customer be a friendly, English-speaking, western democracy, who is a member of NATO/NORAD/ABCA, shares North America, will be scrambling to defend American airspace directly, and is going to be looking for fighters in the next 10 years or so. 

It would also help if that ally had a limited operations budget, which would push them towards buying fewer numbers of more capable aircraft. After all, with their weak political will, token air refuelling capability, and meagre ability to sustain operations in their own north, the number of airframes in their fleet is unlikely to be the limiting factor in their combat capability.

If Canada were to order maybe 30-odd airframes (one deployable squadron and an OTU), we would keep the F-22 line open, get commonality with the USAF, and when we deploy a token 6 airframes overseas, they will be the best 6 airframes money can buy. And in a real alpha-threat confrontation (*cough*Russia*cough*) we'll be limited by the number of airfields in the north and by our ability to protect and supply them long before we run out of airframes to deploy, so a smaller buy might make sense.

Just some thoughts, while watching the Stanley Cup finals. I think the F-22 and the F-35 both have their strength and weaknesses in terms of a Canadian purchase, but I wouldn't shed any tears if we became the first export customer of the Raptor.


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## CougarKing (8 Jun 2009)

FoverF said:
			
		

> There are a lot of interests in the US competing over the whole issue of exporting F-22s. The whole issue becomes much simpler if we give them an easy option;
> 
> Let the first customer be a friendly, English-speaking, western democracy, who is a member of NATO/NORAD/ABCA, shares North America, will be scrambling to defend American airspace directly, and is going to be looking for fighters in the next 10 years or so.
> 
> ...



And speaking of the issue of exporting F22s:

Perhaps the JASDF might just settle for the F15SE/Silent Eagle variant instead at this rate?



> *Cost of F-22 fighter for Japan as much as $250 mln*
> Reuters
> Reuters - Saturday, June 6
> 
> ...


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