House Appropriators included a provision in its 2008 defense spending bill (see above) that would prohibit foreign sales of the Air Force’s new F-22A Raptor, reports The Asahi Shimbun. Japan had expressed interest in buying the new stealth fighter. Last year, lawmakers removed a green light for foreign sales that had been included in the 2007 defense spending bill.
Lawmakers drafting the 2027 defense policy bill worry the Air Force is not moving fast enough to arm its tanker fleet with new protection systems capable of defeating incoming missile threats.