U.S. pulls F-22 fighter from Paris Air Show
Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:54pm BST  Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+]
PARIS (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force has pulled its premiere F-22 fighter jet from the Paris Air Show, citing other demands on its time, said a spokesman for Lockheed Martin Corp, which builds the Raptor.

Spokesman Christopher Trippick said on Monday that the F-22 also would not make an appearance at the Royal International Air Tattoo, the world's largest military air show, to be held next month in Britain.

The F-22 made its first international air show appearance at the Farnborough Air Show last year, a 12-minute flight that generated a great deal of buzz. It also flew at the Royal International Air Tattoo.

Trippick said the Air Force decision was based on availability, but had no further information.

But European industry executives said there might have been concerns over whether the stealth plane would be exposed to radar trying to unlock its secrets.

Lockheed's F-117 stealth fighter made an appearance at the 1991 Paris Air Show, but two years later, the Clinton administration boycotted the appearance of any U.S. military aircraft at the show.

One industry executive, who asked not to be named, said the French government had reportedly used its ultra low-frequency, long-range radar to track the aircraft on its approach to the airfield, sparking concerns among U.S. officials.

The Obama administration said in April that it would only order four more of the radar-evading fighters, capping production at 187 planes.

Some U.S. lawmakers are pushing to repeal a law banning exports of the aircraft to keep the production line running a little longer.

But Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz last week said F-22 exports also faced other significant obstacles, including the cost to protect or remove classified equipment from the aircraft, and a likely break in production before any exports could be approved, which would raise the cost.

Industry executives said the U.S. government may have decided it would be imprudent to bring the fighter to the air show, since the export ban is still in effect and especially since Defense Secretary Robert Gates has told close U.S. allies like Japan that it is not for sale.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa with additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Maureen Bavdek)


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Quoted:
Heading to the Korean area?

Quoted:
OPSEC!!1111ELEven

Quoted:
On loan to Israel for a few months?

Raptors on stand-by in East Asia
(00:58) Rough Cut
Jun 16 - U.S. Air Force pilots of high-tech F-22 combat planes are preparing for a possible contingency in East Asia as tension with North Korea grows.

F-22 fighter jets, known as Raptors, have been recently deployed to the Kadena Air Base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa from the mainland United States.

The increased US military activity in the region comes after the UN Security Council approved a new resolution last week to punish North Korea for its recent nuclear test, banning all weapons exports from North Korea and most arms imports into the state.

North Korea has responded to the UN resolution by announcing that it would start a uranium enrichment program and 'weaponise' all its plutonium.

Pyongyang also threatened military action if Washington and its allies tried to isolate it.


SOUNDBITE: LT. COL. PETE FESLER, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS OF U.S. AIR FORCE 94TH FIGHTER SQUADRON