US Considered Allowing Export of Fifth Generation F-22 Fighters

23
Serial production of all F-22 Raptor models commissioned by the Pentagon was officially banned from sales abroad. The fighter, with all its secrets, was not supposed to fall into the hands of the enemy. The Americans were afraid that the technologies used in the construction of the aircraft would fall into the hands of Russia or China through third countries.

In addition to electronics and communications systems, as well as elements responsible for the operation of the stealth system, the aircraft has engines with variable thrust vector and unique avionics. Therefore, the Raptor was not transferred even to the allies - although this was counted on in Japan and especially in Israel. To preserve the status quo, a special amendment to the legislation was invented, known as the Amendment by Congressman David Obey ("The Obey Amendment"). Although both Tokyo and Tel Aviv understood that this was only a formal cover for the real reasons.



The concept of a tactical fighter with more advanced characteristics than the F-15 was developed in the mid-1990s. For the sake of a unique project, specialists from Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics have teamed up. The first Raptor sample was presented in April 1997. However, even then there was no consensus about the mass production and use of the novelty: the plane turned out to be very expensive, and the times of the "cold war" with the collapse of the USSR are a thing of the past.

The serial production program has cost the budget many billions of dollars. The last production F-22 entered the service of the US Air Force in 2012, after which the assembly line was stopped. The combat debut of a fighter is considered to be the performance of missions in the skies over Syria in 2014. Although earlier it was reported about the use of these 5th generation fighters in Afghanistan. True, the meaning is not fully understood. Stealth is hardly advisable for terrorist bombing. Having checked the plane in real conditions, the military-industrial complex lobbyists tried to return to the issue of expanding production - through authorized export sales.



This scheme was hampered by Obi's amendment to the 1998 Defense Appropriations Act. It prevented the transfer of technology of the advanced tactical fighter F-22 to any foreign government. The amendment is still considered valid - although it turned out that at the end of 2009, a separate group of experts was instructed to investigate the possibility of creating a modification of the Raptor with changes in the set of applied technologies that could be sold abroad.

The prototype of the export version was the models of the latest conveyor assemblies. One of the original scenarios involved the use of working lines after the official completion of contracts with the Pentagon - so as not to have the extra costs of restarting after mothballing. With such a scheme, one fighter would cost $ 165 million, with a total estimate of $ 8,3 billion. Taking into account a two-year pause, an export series of 40 aircraft would have cost 11,6 billion, and the “piece price tag” would have grown to 232,5 million for one aircraft. The costs were projected without such additional budgetary burdens as compensation to manufacturers and the cost of training pilots and maintenance personnel, as well as subsequent maintenance.

It is believed that Raptor's technologies are still of interest to competitors - despite the fact that with the advent of the US Air Force the latest F-35 and their modifications, the Pentagon has an alternative set of top-secret developments in its hands, and Russia and China have enough of their own " know-how ". Either way, the source code of the F-22 is still banned from being transferred to anyone other than the US Air Force. And signs indicating a change in the existing alignment are not yet foreseen.
  • Nikolay Stalnov
  • Official U.S. Department of Defense archive media.defense.gov
Our news channels

Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest news and the most important events of the day.

23 comments
Information
Dear reader, to leave comments on the publication, you must sign in.
  1. -4
    18 September 2021 15: 40
    -Allow EXPORT of the fifth generation fighters F-22.
    Very bad, however.
    1. +5
      18 September 2021 15: 44
      It's better than cutting it into metal. In any case, they will be written off, it is more logical to sell to someone with modernization.
      1. mvg
        +8
        18 September 2021 16: 22
        sell with upgrade

        Themselves admitted that it is unprofitable to modernize. If only Israel, and he himself will come up with something.
        1. +3
          18 September 2021 16: 28
          It is unprofitable for the United States, it has a different scale. For Israel, Australia, Japan, South Korea will go. Although the latter two are developing their own fighters.
          And so yes, the window of opportunity is closing, closer to the 30s, several more 5/6 generation fighters will appear, then there will definitely not be any sense from the F-22.
        2. 0
          20 September 2021 01: 26
          I do not know who confessed there, but the F-22 is currently preparing to go through the next along the way, the last, but major modernization: radar, engine, firmware, etc. The plane is kept alive until NGAD appears. in the event of a conflict with an equal opponent, he remains "on the edge of the spear". The withdrawal is expected from 2030, and then on condition that NGAD begins to appear in the army. But the plane still has its own problems: the cost of an hour is 45-50 thousand dollars, the annual flight of certified F-22 pilots is no more than 60 hours per year, which is extremely small for the norm ~ 120-150 hours, and the combat readiness is just over 50%. It is not clear what this is connected with. There may be problems with spare parts from contractors, but there are much older F-15Cs in service and everything is in order there with combat readiness. Can stupidly save the resource of the aircraft. Or maybe it's just that the planned withdrawal of aircraft for modernization is underway, which makes them in fact incapable of combat.
          This article is based on another foreign publication. It also says that even if the F-22 were sold abroad, the customers would receive a cut-off version: a weaker radar (most likely from the F-35), etc. In the "declassified" report for the Congress, almost everything was retouched and remained under the stamp, there is a bunch of technologies, even the name of which is classified, and much of this had to be removed from the export version.
          1. -1
            20 September 2021 09: 15
            Moreover, I don’t remember which shoulder straps from the Air Force gave interviews, but we were talking about the Raptor and the answer was something like: “The F-22 still has an excellent airframe, but the filling of the aircraft is not flexible, it’s more and more difficult to adapt it to new threats , and in the foreseeable future the aircraft will no longer meet the requirements imposed on it for overcoming in some scenarios. But this does not apply to air-to-air missions. In its main role, it still fully satisfies the Air Force. " open architecture that is easy to adapt. In addition, there are a lot of hints that the project of the Air Force Research Laboratory - Skyborg (drones in automatic mode, accompanying fighters) will be directly related to the NGAD, and with the Raptor onboard system, the roots of which are already in the late 80s - early 90s, it will be soft speaking hard to do.
    2. -3
      18 September 2021 15: 59
      Quote: knn54
      -Allow EXPORT of the fifth generation fighters F-22.
      Very bad, however.


      Now that we have organized a mini Anlosak NATO - an auukus of three members, why not demonstrate a special trusting relationship by selling very expensive super aircraft of 30 years "aging".
  2. -12
    18 September 2021 15: 41
    F-22 is an old rusty galosh with avionics from the end of the 80s of the last century with a stealth coating that constantly peels off.
    For 1 hour of flight, the F-22 accounts for 50 hours of restoration of its stealth coating.
    1. +1
      18 September 2021 22: 06
      Quote: From Tomsk
      F-22 is an old rusty galosh with avionics from the end of the 80s of the last century with a stealth coating that constantly peels off.
      For 1 hour of flight, the F-22 accounts for 50 hours of restoration of its stealth coating.

      belay
      where is the rust?

      Avionics is a designation of a collection of electronic systems, mainly flight and navigation systems, installed on board an aircraft.

      Increment 3.1 configuration: aircraft with serial numbers from 03-4045 to 10-4195 have been upgraded, i.e. - taking into account the fact that 06-4125 crashed in 2010 - exactly 150 pieces; in the future, all these aircraft will be upgraded to Increment 3.2;
      Increment 3.2A, software-only upgrade from 2014;
      in 2018. the upgrade to the Increment 3.2B configuration has started,

      Yes .. the architecture of the F-22 avionics is based on the Intel i960MX microprocessor, but PowerPC BAE RAD5 has been installed since the 750th lot (do we produce this?).
      In 2024, funding for the improvement of sensors (radar and other) will begin
      ===============
      F-22 SRP what 50 hours per flight hour?
      The estimated resource of the F-22A fighter is 8 flight hours, recourse
      do you think 400 hours will be repaired?
      259 years with a 7 hour workday?
      1. +1
        19 September 2021 19: 47
        You put up a photo of plastic models of fighters and ask where the rust is? Clearly understood...
        1. +2
          20 September 2021 18: 13
          Quote: El Chuvachino
          You put up a photo of plastic models of fighters and ask where the rust is? Clearly understood...

          Clearly Understandable by Olesya Medvedeva - YouTube good
          rushed to the polls.

          this photo has been testing radar-absorbent material (RAM) for 18 months without overhauling its coating
          RAM is a matrix with many tiny ferrite beads. These spheres are partly responsible for the RAM's ability to absorb and scatter radar signal.
          When the spheres are embedded in the matrix, they are protected from corrosion. But when the matrix cracks or falls off, the ferrite is exposed to air and it rusts.
          the tests found that the four panels on the top of the aircraft are the most susceptible to corrosion and will be replaced - at a cost of $ 50 per aircraft, excluding labor costs.
  3. mvg
    0
    18 September 2021 16: 21
    Serial production of all F-22 Raptor models commissioned by the Pentagon was under an official ban on sales abroad

    Translate from French ... In the sense that the serial ones were not exported, but prototypes in the lungs? Or a google translator?
  4. The comment was deleted.
  5. +2
    18 September 2021 16: 28
    I don’t understand what kind of export, they haven’t been released for a long time? fellow request belay
    1. 0
      18 September 2021 16: 36
      Campaign these are independent things. Legally independent. Export authorization and physical release. But I do not know. Otherwise, you are right, they do not release them.
    2. +2
      18 September 2021 17: 02
      I don’t understand what kind of export, they haven’t been released for a long time?

      This issue was considered back in 2009. The report became available this year.
  6. +1
    18 September 2021 16: 32
    Want to reactivate the conveyor? Found buyers? But what about "Penguin"? They will not compete with each other? The market capacity is finite, one will go at the expense of the other.
    1. +1
      18 September 2021 19: 08
      Quote: Mountain Shooter
      Want to reactivate the conveyor?

      the conveyor has been gone for a long time.
      there were tools and video instructions in storage, but in 2017 rumors spread that they had been disposed of.
      Back in April 2016, Congress ordered an official study of the cost and the possibility of resuming production of the F-22.

      It will take approximately $ 50 billion to purchase 194 additional F-22s.

      - Total includes an estimate of $ 7 billion to $ 10 billion for one-time start-up costs and $ 40,4 billion for aircraft purchases.
      Approximately $ 50 billion to purchase 194 additional F-22s.

      Estimated cost from $ 206 to $ 216 million for the aircraft (the cost of the last F-22 produced was $ 137 million).
      FB-22
  7. +5
    18 September 2021 17: 14
    The issue of exporting the F-22 and, accordingly, creating an export version for this, has been periodically raised since 1998, when Lockheed Martin and the Air Force conducted a joint study of the possibility of creating an export version.
    They returned to this question again in 2006. In 2009, Lockheed Martin conducted a proactive study of the export option.
    And finally, in 2009, there was another, another attempt to consider the issue. The report on this program became available.
    Those who wish and speak the language can see it here.
    https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21062362-100300_f-22-export-configuration-study_redacted

    It is not clear what is sensational in this information. The availability of an export modification would significantly reduce the cost of producing an aircraft for its own Air Force. Everything is natural.
  8. 0
    18 September 2021 18: 50
    Serial production all F-22 Raptor models commissioned by the Pentagon, was officially banned from selling abroad.

    I have something with the Russian language "not right" or with the perception.
    How can "serial production" be banned?
    all F-22 Raptor models
    Are there many of their models? I suppose there is a spark and a stormtrooper
    Either way, the source code of the F-22 is still banned from being transferred to anyone other than the US Air Force.

    belay
    the source code size for the F-22 is 1,7 million lines.
    90% of the code is written in Ada
    / you can safely give it away, because it is "rigidly tied" to hardware and without iron, nothing will be /
    The prototype of ALIS (F-35) was the software of the F-22 fighter.
    However, now not 1,7 million lines of code, but 8,6 million.
    At the same time, the overwhelming majority of the code is written in C / C ++.
    Jews, English and Italians are poking around in ALIS.
    Why would anyone need the F-22 source code?
    -------------------------------------------------- ------
    Yes, it is not possible to resume production of the F-22 from the word "no how"
  9. +2
    18 September 2021 21: 14
    They can consider a lot of things, only which one of them will take for 300 million, and then they also need care for one flight, lay out 100 thousand, but put it, not everyone can afford it. Before the Revolution, there was such an expression, "if you want to destroy some country, give them a dreadnought!"
  10. +1
    18 September 2021 21: 22
    Selling property that there is no money at all, despite the printing press?))
  11. 0
    19 September 2021 14: 08
    now it is possible to sell-technology "claw-scratched" by both the Chinese and the Russians
  12. 0
    21 September 2021 03: 35
    Late to drink Borjomi

"Right Sector" (banned in Russia), "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) (banned in Russia), ISIS (banned in Russia), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham" formerly "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia) , Taliban (banned in Russia), Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia), Anti-Corruption Foundation (banned in Russia), Navalny Headquarters (banned in Russia), Facebook (banned in Russia), Instagram (banned in Russia), Meta (banned in Russia), Misanthropic Division (banned in Russia), Azov (banned in Russia), Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia), Aum Shinrikyo (banned in Russia), AUE (banned in Russia), UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia), Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), Legion “Freedom of Russia” (armed formation, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned)

“Non-profit organizations, unregistered public associations or individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent,” as well as media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent: “Medusa”; "Voice of America"; "Realities"; "Present time"; "Radio Freedom"; Ponomarev; Savitskaya; Markelov; Kamalyagin; Apakhonchich; Makarevich; Dud; Gordon; Zhdanov; Medvedev; Fedorov; "Owl"; "Alliance of Doctors"; "RKK" "Levada Center"; "Memorial"; "Voice"; "Person and law"; "Rain"; "Mediazone"; "Deutsche Welle"; QMS "Caucasian Knot"; "Insider"; "New Newspaper"