Japan is aggressively pushing for the purchase of 100 F-22 "Raptors," which cost $200 million per unit, saying the fighter aircraft is necessary to combat Chinese air force expansion and North Korean missile threats.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to raise the arms deal issue during his summit with U.S. President George W. Bush this week, according to diplomatic sources.

U.S. law forbids the export of the F-22, nicknamed the "dream fighter jet," to protect its technology. But Congress seems ready to change the law to lift the ban and the Bush administration already has expressed its willingness to negotiate with Tokyo over the sale of the stealth fighters.

If Japan obtains up to 100 F-22s, it will have the world's second-biggest air force and dominate the skies over the Korean peninsula and China; their operational radius extends as far as 2,000 kilometers, South Korean defense officials and analysts say.

Considered as the most advanced air-superiority fighter in the world, the F-22, built by Lockheed Martin, is equipped with an active, electronically scanned radar for cruise missile detection and is capable of evading advanced air defenses to bomb ballistic missile launch sites.

Indicating the arms deal is near at hand, Japan and the United States conducted joint air force drills on Friday involving a squadron of F-22 stealth fighters temporally deployed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

Japan's push for the F-22 aircraft has sparked security concerns in South Korea, which has already slipped in the regional arms race amid lingering threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.

On Friday, Seoul's Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo hinted that his country would review its plan to buy F-15 aircraft to seek to acquire more advanced F-22 models. Under a 2002 deal, South Korea is now procuring 40 F-15 jets from U.S. aerospace giant Boeing and is expected to purchase 20 more F-15 jets to replace its aging fleet of F-4 Phantom IIs.

In a press conference, Kim said South Korea would introduce the fifth generation fighter jets such as the U.S.-built F-22 and F-35.

"With a bigger budget Japan can buy these aircraft, but we can't at this time. But I agree that we have to possess sufficient numbers of aircraft that are equivalent to it," Kim said. "For the time being, our plan is to acquire F-15 class fighters, but we will introduce the fifth generation fighters at some point. We will make a decision after considering various factors such as the military power balance around the Korean peninsula and overall relations with the United States and North Korea."

Asked about the aftermath of Japan's purchase of F-22 jets, Kim said: "The U.S. Congress has yet to make a decision on whether to lift the ban. We will have to look at its decision."

Defense analysts say Japan's possible purchase of F-22 fighters would upset the military balance in Northeast Asia and prompt China to jump into the regional arms race.

"Japan's possible purchase of F-22s would tip the balance of power in Northeast Asia," said Kim Kyung-min, a political science professor at Seoul's Hanyang University.

Kim and other analysts expressed concerns that South Korea is increasingly becoming sandwiched between Japan and China.

Beijing has already started developing its own advanced stealth fighters -- Jian-13 and Jian-14 -- to match F-22 jets. In response, Taiwan plans to acquire 60 F-16 C/Ds from the United States to upgrade its air force preparedness.

South Korea has implemented a 15-year military modernization program since 2005 to introduce state-of-the-art weaponry such as F-15 fighters, patriot missile systems and Aegis-equipped destroyers. But analysts say the plan is unmatched by those of Japan and China in size and budget.

Still worse, Seoul's arms procurement plan has hit a snag as the United States has rejected selling its high-flying surveillance aircraft to South Korea.

South Korea has asked the United States to sell its Global Hawks, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), saying it is necessary to boost its surveillance over North Korea.

The unmanned spy plane is considered a key strategic weapon and is under strict export restrictions, meaning that congressional approval is needed before the UAV can be sold abroad.

"South Korea is in a double bind: a nuclear and biological missile threat from North Korea and being trapped between a fierce armament race between China and Japan," Seoul's largest newspaper Chosun Ilbo said in an editorial.

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