In a surprise move, President Donald Trump has reportedly approved the sale of an upgraded F-22 Raptor variant to Israel, with a number of sources alleging Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed the sale to Israeli authorities during an official visit to Israel, which raises the question, can Australia and other allies like Japan get their hands on the platform?
Designed to establish and maintain air superiority or air dominance, fighter aircraft have evolved from relatively simple wood and canvas air frames during the First World War, to the highly manoeuvrable, long-range aircraft that dominated the skies of Europe and the Pacific during the Second World War.
The latest two generations of fighter aircraft combining advanced avionics, sensor systems and equally advanced weapons systems, in conjunction with survivable, agile and high-speed airframes and now low observability characteristics ranging from specialised shaping to radar absorbing and scattering materials, serve to establish these aircraft as the pinnacle of these earlier designs.
Many US allies have lobbied albeit unsuccessfully for export access to the F-22 Raptor, including Israel, which ironically was the original point of concern for Congress leading to the initial export ban, however it appears as though the request by the United Arab Emirates and a continued backing by the US to help maintain Israel’s technological edge over regional competitors is the driving force behind the major back flip in US defence export policy.