Why The US Banned The F-22 Raptor From Being Exported
BY RICHARD MILNERAPRIL 7, 2025 11:00 AM EST
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Jets: They're pretty cool, right? They zoom around pew-pewing, diving, dipping, and banking hard lefts or rights with Tom Cruise in the cockpit in "Top Gun: Maverick." That was a pretty solid movie, and of course the practical effects far outstrip any garbage CGI or green screen ... Hang on, sorry. We're talking about real life, not fantasyland. Real life, which is full of real, multimillion-dollar jets like the F-15, F-16, F-22, and F35A (Lightning II, no less). And in real life, real people get hurt and die, and real stakes are on the line when folks get their hands on some really high-tech, potentially devastating weaponry. That's why the United States has not, and will not, share F-22 Raptors with other nations, not even allies. Plus, they're really, really expensive anyway.
It's not that allies haven't come knocking about the F-22. Countries like Japan, Australia, and Israel have all said, "Hey, can we, uh ... have some of those?" But no. In 1998, the U.S. government voted to amend the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R.2266) to specifically ban the sale of F-22s to other countries. As Congress itself says, "None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to approve or license the sale of F-22 advanced tactical fighter to any foreign government." The "funds" in question relate to budgetary spending used to buy F-22s from Lockheed Martin. And why do we not peddle them? They're just too advanced, and the U.S. would be compromising its military advantage.
F-22s are too advanced to sell
So what about F-22s makes them so gosh darn awesome that the U.S. won't sell any? Well, not to let loose secrets that would compromise the military superiority of the United States or anything, but: everything. The Air Force has a full (and fully disclosed) breakdown on these bad boys, including the monstrous price tag of $143 million per jet. Compare this to an F-15 Eagle that costs $27.9 million for A/B models and $29.9 million for C/D models. Or an F-16 Fighting Falcon that costs $14.6 million for A/B models and $18.8 million for C/D models. That's almost 10 F-16A/Bs for the price of one F-22. So, it's possible that other countries couldn't afford F-22s, anyway. Even the U.S. only had 183 of them as of 2022.
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https://www.grunge.com/1823185/why-fighter-jet-f-22-raptor-banned-export-us/
