North Korea's return to saber-rattling has brought military affairs back to the top of the Japan-U.S. agenda. As many Japanese continue to have — unfounded — doubts about the commitment of the Obama administration to the bilateral alliance, they are pushing for Washington to allow Japan to purchase America's most advanced fighter aircraft, the F-22 Raptor.
This issue must be quickly deflated before it becomes a misguided litmus test for bilateral relations.
The F-22 Raptor is a fifth-generation combat aircraft said to have two key characteristics: (1) It represents a quantum leap in air power, and (2) it is not cheap. The complexities of cost accounting and politics make it difficult to put an accurate price tag on the Raptor.