Japan gets OK to procure 105 F-35s, plans to make its own fighter
Japan was given the green light by the USA to accept 105 F-35 Lightning IIs, just as Japan announces a timeline to make their own fighter jet.
The package, which aligns with the original 2018 procurement plan set forth by the Japanese, includes 63 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing aircraft and 42 F-35 short takeoff and landing variants.
According to Defense One, the sale will run around $23 billion (with a “b”), and also includes over one hundred spare engines and other parts.
The Japanese, if they decide to move forward with the deal, will have around 147 F-35s, making them the #2 top operator behind the USA and effectively shunting the UK into third place.
Interestingly, Japan has also announced that they will be initiating a plan to create their own indigenous fighter aircraft, one that will likely be much cheaper to produce and feature more contemporary technologies.
Designed to replace the F-2 fighters created by Mitsubishi (imagine a F/A-18 E/F “Super Hornet”-type enlargement of the F-16), the program is scheduled to begin in 2024 and will take around five years to produce.
The Japanese production timeline pales in comparison to the agonizingly long gestation process that was the F-35 programme, which first took flight as an X-plane nearly twenty years ago.
While Japan may be making their own aircraft in due time, they haven’t forgotten their greatest ally in the region- the new aircraft will be designed to be interoperable with American military systems.
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