Should the F/A-22 Raptor be offered for export?

[Cobra2]

NEVER EVER SELL THE F-22 UNTIL IT BECOMES REALLY OLD TECHNOLOGY!!!


AGREED. PERIOD.

[Valiant1]

Hey Cobra 2, there is no more South Vietnam, just Vietnam.  the US relationship w/Vietnam is a good one now, ironically.  Americans are now tourists in Vietnam - ain't that something else!  First we were POWs and they took our lives,  now we're tourists and they're taking our money!  go figure!

[Raptor]

Hey wait. I disagree on the 'until old technology' point. Won't it be the most pricy antique piece of junk on the market then? I say just leave it like the 117.

[Gripen]

i thought that the F-35 and the Rapton were designed around the same sort of principal. why would the US sell its brand new fighter to Allies when it can give them a fighter that isnt as capable, even with its stealth capabilities, and still have them believe it can?

like the Raptor has supercruise, and in not sure if the -35 does..

[Raptor]

F-135 engines are more powerful than the F-119 engines, used on the Raptor. The two fighters were built on the same lines, but the F-35 is more of a utility jet than the Raptor, which performs, to the best of my knowledge, more delicate operations.

[Gripen]

i thought the J-35 was built to replace the F-18

and the Raptor to replace the F-15 fighter??

[Webmaster]

J-35 is still the Saab Draken in my book, but you mean the JSF or F-35

Yes, but it is a Joint Strike Fighter, which means a strike fighter for all three services. So the F-35A conventional take-off and landing variant will replace the F-16 and A-10 of the Air Force. The F-35B SVTOL will replace the Harriers of the USMC. And the F-35C carrier capable will replace the F/A-18C/D of the US Navy and USMC.

Yes, the Raptor is only replacing the F-15C/D fighters, so that's why they still needed a more economical F-16 multi-role replacement.

Exports will probably consists of mostly F-35As, maybe even downgraded for some countries, and F-35Bs. I don't think there is a big market for the F-35Cs.

[Raptor]

J-35 is a Draken, yes.

The JSF probably won't come up to the costs that the Raptor totals now, mainly because of the already present market for it. But this is a suject about the Raptors, after all. Not the JSF.

[Gripen]

oops my bad

i did mean the F-35 JSF

[Raptor]

No prob. So now my opinion is that USA should sell downgraded F-22s

[Gripen]

haha

sell the downgraded version

typical American Military

[Raptor]

Hm. Well, thy could always sell the full version, make the whole world as poor as an empty wallet, and then take back the F-22s, which the rest of the world can't afford to maintain, for a third of the price they sold them for. Wow-wee!!!