TOKYO -- Despite having denied newspaper reports that it is planning to drop its efforts to acquire the F-22 Raptor, the Japanese government seems no closer to securing an order of the stealth fighter in the face of an American export ban. The U.S. is said to be wary of lifting the ban because of a well-publicized data leak concerning the U.S.-developed Aegis defense system by a Japanese officer in 2007. The approach has left some Japanese policymakers and U.S. analysts frustrated. "I find the U.S. policy in this case incomprehensible," said James Auer, director of the Center for U.S.-Japan Studies and Cooperation at the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. "The U.S. has always said it favors a relationship of trust . . . and Japan is located in a very dangerous part of the world."
F-22 Export Ban, Collective Security Test U.S.-Japan Defense Ties
