Law Change on F-22 Exports Proposed

You know, 10 years ago, this might have meant somehing:

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve an fiscal 2010 Defense spending bill that would allow the Defense Department to develop an export version of the radar-evading F-22 Raptor fighter jet.

Now, not so much.

If the line gets restarted, here is what you have to do:

• Replace almost every chip on the plane with one that whose line wasn't shut down in the past 5 years (the US fleet has spent large amounts on building up inventories of these chips prior to shutdown of their lines).
• Rewrite the software for the new chips.
• Rewrite the software so that potential opponents will not be able to get critical information on the functioning of the US F-22 fleet.
• Improve the reliability of the coatings.
• Develop a new sensor suite so that potential opponents will not be able to get critical information on the functioning of the US F-22 fleet.
• Integrate non-US weapons (France & UK mostly) into the airframe.
• Keep the cost per plane at current levels.
• Be able to deliver the plane in less than 5 years.

If we are asking for all that, how about a pony too?