Japan increasingly likely to be the first foreign nation buy F-22s

If it follows the pattern of the F-15J it will probably have some avionics systems swapped for locally produced equipment. With any other country I might call that a downgrade, with Japan it might be inaccurate to call it that. They do seem to know a thing or two about electronics...

I always thought Japan was the most likely country to get the F-22. They always seem to get advanced US hardware first - think Aegis. And they are probably the only country besides the US that could actually afford to buy it.

Originally posted by NWguy83
First but hopefully not the only one. And I certainly hope that if other nations purchase the F-22, the Pentagon will decide to buy more of them.
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Japan will do anything to keep us from destroying it's fragile U.S. dependent economy. As soon as the cold war was over and Japan's strategic value lessened we immediately threatened them with sanctions if they didnt buy more Pontiacs. Seems we're now pushing the F-22 in their face as well. Not very nice but atleast the tax-payers here wont feel like theyre the only ones who got ripped off.