EXCLUSIVE - Cost of an F-22 fighter for Japan soars

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force estimates Japan would have to spend as much as $2.3 billion for development of its own version of the premier U.S. fighter jet, Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 Raptor.

The estimate -- more than twice that used publicly by U.S. officials in the past -- was contained in a U.S. senator's letter to Japan's ambassador obtained by Reuters on Monday.

Lockheed is eyeing possible F-22 sales to Japan as a potential way to to extend a production line that is due to start closing soon, absent new orders.

President Barack Obama's fiscal 2010 budget request, now under consideration by Congress, would end F-22 production in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

For years, Japan has sought to buy two squadrons of the supersonic F-22, possibly 40 planes, a request that has become more compelling with growing threats from neighboring North Korea.

Foreign sales of the F-22 are banned by a law passed by Congress in 1998 to keep secret the aircraft's radar-evading "stealth" technology.

In his May 21 letter to Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, Sen. Daniel Inouye, a proponent of sales to Japan who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee, said an F-22 deal would benefit both countries. Reuters reported the thrust of Inouye's letter on June 5 but not the exact figures he cited.

Assuming a deal with Tokyo was concluded in early 2010, engineering development work could start later the same year, Inouye wrote, citing preliminary information and presuming that Congress would lift the export ban.