Has anyone else seen the chatter about F-22s for Israel. As the story below says the Obey Amendment to 1998 Department of Defense Appropriations Act still prevents this. So I assume this is mainly to satisfy either internal Israeli concerns about the F-35s for the UAE and/or the US Israeli lobby in the run up to the US elections.
I can't see F-22 production ever being restarted unless the the USAF had approved funding for a substantial number of additional ones. Nor, as the Forbes article quoted below says, does the US have an excess of F-22s to offload.
Trump approves selling F-22 Raptor to Israel — Saudi report
Newspaper says US is okaying sale of the advanced stealth aircraft to maintain the Jewish state’s military superiority, after announcing plans to sell F-35s to UAE
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told Israeli officials during a visit to Israel this week that the Trump administration has approved selling F-22 stealth fighters to the Jewish state, according to a Friday report in a Saudi-owned newspaper.
US President Donald Trump okayed the sale of the F-22 Raptor and precision-guided bombs to Israel, the London-based
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported, citing senior sources in Tel Aviv.
Such a sale would first require the US Congress to overturn a current law barring Washington from exporting the advanced fighter jets. The House of Representatives passed the law in 1998 over concerns that the nigh-unparalleled stealth technology in the F-22 could fall into the hands of Russia or China if the aircraft were sold abroad, including to Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-...israel-report/
Forbes' report a few days earlier added a note of realism:
After OKing UAE F-35s, Israel Asks For F-22 Raptors—Here’s Why That’s Not Likely To Fly Following earlier Israeli objections to the sale of Lockheed F-35 Lightning II stealth jets to the United Arab Emirates, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz reportedly relented and accepted the sale following a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper last Friday.
According to Israeli newspaper
Haaretz, senior Israeli defense officials subsequently sought compensation: “removing obstacles” to purchasing older F-22 Raptor stealth fighters designed for greater air-to-air combat capability than the F-35.
The report notes, however, such a sale is “currently not on the table.” And it will likely remain that way because the F-22 is no longer in production, and the U.S. Air Force—the type’s only operator—is unlikely to want to give up aircraft from its own fleet.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sebasti...likely-to-fly/
The
Haaretz story also quotes IDF sources about opposing views over the agreement to acquire V-22s the Airforce not wanting them but the ground forces are in favour. THe airforce would prefere CH-53Ks.