David Axe has an interesting post on F-22 over at Ares. We posted the picture at right a few days ago showing the arrival of the F-22 at Elmendorf, Alaska, where some 40 Raptors will ultimately be deployed. The aircraft will be split between two squadrons–the 90th and the 525th Fighter Squadrons–and the Air Force Reserve will also fly the planes as part of the 302nd Fighter Squadron. Axe explains,
It’s very interesting the extent to which the Army and Air Force have become integrated, maybe even dependent, on reserve units… Axe also notes the Air Force’s deployment plans for the F-22:
The Air Force needs more Raptors, and where it needs that technology the most–in the Pacific–there’s an easy way to get it. Sell 100 of the air superiority fighters to the Japanese and you give a capable and trusted ally a huge advantage in any potential conflict. Further, such a sale would bring the unit price of the aircraft down enough to give the Air Force half a chance at buying another 100 copies. There’s been a lot of speculation on whether Congress, and the president, will ultimately move to export the plane–a move that would require the repeal of the 1998 Obey amendment banning such a sale. Recently Admiral Timothy Keating spoke against such a move. Defense News reports:
If Japan doesn’t get the F-22, the U.S. will likely push the F/A-18 and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The F-35 is another plane with spiraling costs that might be reduced through Japanese participation. But it’s also unlikely that F-35s could be built for Japan until 2013 at the earliest, and even then, planes would need to be diverted off the assembly line and away from other customers, like the United States. It would be a challenge to replace Japan’s aging fighter fleet in time. And the F/A-18 would offer the Japanese interoperability with the U.S. service that will be the first on the scene in any potential conflict–the U.S. Navy–but it has none of the stealth characteristics of the F-35 and F-22. In the long term, selling Japan the F-35 might be the best option for both countries, and, at present, Keating doesn’t seem overly concerned about China–he says he’s an “optimist by nature” and isn’t “kept up at night” by anything. But a quick sale of F-22s to Japan might let Washington’s pessimists sleep easier, too.
