When the UAE was offered the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters, the Israelis didn't like it very much in having a country in the region with the same 5th generation fighter. However, it appears that the Israeli government is changing its mind, but this could depend on a difficult authorization.
The Israeli proposal, according to the local newspaper Haaretz would be the sale of F-22 Raptor fighter jets to Israel. According with the newspaper defense officials said they sought compensation: “removing obstacles” to buy older F-22 Raptor stealth fighters designed for greater air-to-air combat capability than the F-35.
However, only the USA has the fighter that is not sold to anyone and the USAF would hardly get rid of its fleet of fighters, which today add up to approximately 187 units. Also, they are no longer making Raptor fighters for the US.
Currently, the sale of the fighter “is not on the table”, which was really to be expected, given the complexity surrounding this fighter.
Both US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz met last Friday and this issue reportedly came up on the agenda.
Photo – USAF/Reproduction
However, it is not just Israel that has already looked at the F-22 Raptor with different eyes, another great US partner, Japan, which has also commented on the F-22 with US authorities, but apparently it did not work out very well, and Japan is leaving for the development of its own sixth-generation fighter.
source: Forbes
Edition: Aeroflap
