U.S. arms-sale chief discounts F-22 sale to Japan

Posted on: Apr. 30th, 2007 || Source: Reuters | E-mail Article | Print Article

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. government arms-sale official on Friday all but dismissed prospects for supplying the United States' premier fighter jet to Japan or Israel, even if a sale is cleared by Congress.

Designing an export version of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research radar-evading F-22 Raptor could cost more than $1 billion and be "prohibitively expensive" for any would-be foreign buyer, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

"If (export) were to be considered, which it's not, it essentially would have to be redesigned, rebuilt, retested and then go into production," Kohler, who oversees government-to-government arms sales, told Reuters in a brief interview.

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