US eyes advanced fighters for Japan

Washington, Apr 26: The United States would welcome talks on supplying next-generation fighter aircraft to Japan, a US official said, before a meeting this week between President Bush and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

''China is modernizing at a rapid pace, its air force,'' said Dennis Wilder, senior director for East Asian Affairs on the White House National Security Council staff, replying to a question about Japan's reported interest in Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 ''Raptor'' fighter jet.

''The Japanese obviously feel some threat in relation to North Korea and its development of missile and nuclear capabilities,'' Wilder added at a briefing on Abe's visit yesterday.

''And so we are very positively disposed to talking to the Japanese about future-generation fighter aircraft,'' he said.

''Whether it's going to be one model or another of aircraft is an open question at this point.'' Japan's defense ministry is mulling radar-evading F-22s and F-15FX fighters built by Boeing Co as replacements for its aging inventory, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday quoting sources close to the matter.

Israel also has shown interest in acquiring the F-22, which entered the US combat fleet in December 2005, 20 years after it was conceived to battle Soviet MiG fighters over Europe.

As a prelude, the US Congress would have to lift a decade-old ban on overseas sale of the F-22, the most advanced US air-superiority fighter. The ban was enacted to make sure the United States kept its technological edge.

Exports would help keep the F-22 production line running until Lockheed enters full-rate production of its next- generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter later this decade, securing US jobs.

''Obviously the Air Force and the US aerospace industry are in favour of lifting the ban on F-22 exports,'' said Christopher Bolkcom, the top warplane expert at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Loren Thompson of the Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said before Wilder spoke: ''There is growing sentiment in the Air Force for allowing exports of the F-22 to trusted allies, because we need allies that have our capabilities, and those allies might be willing to pick up part of the bill.'' But a senior Japanese official who briefed reporters here on condition he not be named did not expect Abe to raise the F-22 issue with Bush.

The official said cooperation on ballistic missile defense would be ''high up on the agenda'' for Abe, who is due to arrive today for his first US visit since becoming prime minister in September.

Tomorrow, Bush and Abe will hold talks and appear at a joint news conference at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

Reuters>