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Buying Time with Iran: The F-22 Fighter

[Washington Institute for Near East Policy] Lt. Col. Thomas Crimmins - Russia is considering the sale of the advanced S-300 air defense system to Iran - a "game changing" move that could affect Israel's calculus about whether, and when, to launch a preventive strike against Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Known in the West as the SA-20, the S-300PMU-2 is capable of intercepting low-altitude cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and high-altitude bombers from a range of inside of 3 miles out to 95 miles. As a result, the former commander of the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command, Gen. (ret.) Richard Hawley, noted last August: "For non-stealth aircraft, the SA-20 represents a virtual no-fly zone." Israel currently believes that its F-15I and F-16I aircraft maintain a viable strike option against Iranian nuclear targets. However, Iran's acquisition of the S-300 would render Israel's current strike options dramatically more difficult, and could force Israel to considerably move forward any strike timetable. The F-22 fighter might represent a trump card that could dissuade Russia from transferring the new air defense systems or that could preserve Israeli options should Russia go through with the sale. As Air Force Association President Lt. Gen. (ret.) Mike Dunn stated last December, "Only the F-22 can survive in airspace defended by increasingly capable surface-to-air missiles" such as the S-300. The writer is a visiting National Defense Fellow at The Washington Institute.
2009-03-20 06:00:00
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