Japan to order 100 more F-35 fighters from US
Move comes in response to China’s military rise and Trump’s pressure
Nikkei staff writers
November 27, 2018 11:26 JST
TOKYO — Japan is preparing to order another 100 F-35 stealth fighter jets from the U.S. to replace some of its aging F-15s, according to sources.
The plan can be considered a response to China’s military buildup, as well as a nod to U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Tokyo to buy more American defense equipment. Japan already intended to procure 42 of the new fighters.
A single F-35 costs more than 10 billion yen ($88.1 million), meaning the additional order would exceed 1 trillion yen.
Japan’s government plans to approve the purchase when it adopts new National Defense Program Guidelines at a cabinet meeting in mid-December. It will also include the F-35 order in its medium-term defense program, which covers fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2023. The government wants to obtain 42 F-35s as successors to its F-4s by fiscal 2024.
The 42 fighters Japan originally planned to buy are all F-35As, a conventional takeoff and landing variant. The additional 100 planes would include both the F-35A and F-35B, which is capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings.
At present, Japan deploys about 200 F-15s, roughly half of which cannot be upgraded. The Defense Ministry wants to replace the planes that cannot be upgraded with the 100 F-35s, while enhancing and retaining the remaining F-15s.
To accommodate the F-35Bs, the government intends to revamp the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Izumo helicopter carrier to host the fighters.
Japan’s neighbors are busy introducing their own advanced military aircraft. China deployed its homegrown J-20 stealth fighter in February, and by 2030 some experts expect the country to build a fleet of more than 250 fifth-generation jets — as the latest generation of fighters like the F-35 is known.
Russia, too, is expected to introduce its fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 in 2019, at the earliest.
To keep up, Tokyo believes it is imperative to significantly increase its procurement of the most sophisticated stealth jets.
At the same time, Trump has repeatedly urged Japan to purchase more American hardware and reduce the trade imbalance between the countries. Buying more of the high-priced fighters is a quick way to do that.
In September, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Trump, “Introducing high-performance equipment, including American [materiel], is important for our country to strengthen its defense capabilities.”
By: bring_it_on - 12th December 2018 at 23:10
More:
TOKYO — Japan is expected to announce new defense guidelines next week that would transform its newest warship into an aircraft carrier and pave the way for a major purchase of as many as 147 F-35s, the parliamentary vice minister of defense for Japan’s ruling party said Wednesday.
Converting Japan’s newest warship, the JS Izumo helicopter destroyer, into an aircraft carrier that would carry the advanced F-35B vertical takeoff Joint Strike Fighter would mark a major shift in the post-war makeup of Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Forces.
The Liberal Democratic Party and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to release defense guidelines next week that will take that more assertive approach, said Keitaro Ohno, LDP’s parliamentary vice minister for defense.
Transforming the Izumo to be able to support the F-35 won’t cost much, as the new and modern warship, which was commissioned in 2015, already has the basics to support the vertical takeoff fighters, Ohno said.
The biggest price tag will be a planned buy of up to 147 F-35s to both outfit the Izumo and replace Japan’s aging fleet of F-4 and F-15 fighters.
Ohno said that about 40 of the aircraft would be F-35Bs for the Izumo, and 107 would be F-35As to replace the F-4s and F-15s.
By: Sintra - 6th December 2018 at 15:26
Thats pretty much official.
Thanks
By: bring_it_on - 6th December 2018 at 11:50
I would point out that a) its a Nikkei story citing “unnammed sources”, b) there´s no FMS letter to the Congress about a Japanese F-35A/B/C/D/J/Y follow on order and c) the number of sales to foreign countries outside of the JSF partners without a prior FMS letter till now is zero.
While i have no doubts that Dave´s follow on orders by the JASDF are extremely likely and are being discussed right now, there´s no firm contract yet.
The plan was confirmed by former defence minister Itsunori Onodera, who said during a 5 December meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Tokyo, “We concluded that it is preferable to replace 99 F-15 fighters [pre-MSIP], which cannot be modernised, with F35s.” Onodera currently chairs the task force of the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito, which is in charge of revising the NDPG. The guidelines are set to be reviewed by the end of 2018 for the first time in five years.
The government presented the draft to the ruling coalition’s task force on 5 December.
https://www.janes.com/article/85020/…f-35b-fighters
There is still going to be some work required before this turns into an FMS notification but one can safely expect that in the coming year or so should things move as planned. First it has to go through Japan’s budget process and be formally baked into their investment strategies.
By: TomcatViP - 6th December 2018 at 10:46
nice observation.
By: FalconDude - 6th December 2018 at 10:26
The leaked information about the 100 F-35s to Japan (interest) is another way of pressuring Turkey not to go ahead with the purchase of the S-400! 100 is exactly the number of planes Turkey has ordered.
By: Arabella-Cox - 6th December 2018 at 08:16
Sorry, I hate to break it to some but the proposed F-3 that was suppose to be developed from the X-2 (formerly ATD-X) is in fact dead. That said, Japan will continue to develop future technologies. Which, it hopes can be used as leverage to join with a partner or partners on “6th Generation Fighter”.
The current plan is to replace all of it’s F-4’s and at very least half of it’s F-15’s with New F-35A’s and F-35B’s. Yet, considering the New 6th Generation Fighter is so far off. (20+ years) I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the F-15’s are replaced as time goes on. Only real hope is this new 6th Generation Fighter will come soon enough to replace the F-2’s???
By: Vans - 2nd December 2018 at 06:35
Sintra: Thanks for the explanation. I thought it was because of the UK PM at the time
ANANDA: good info. sounds ike something that would be used by a future twin engined fighter. or a light weight single engined gripen sized fighter.
By: JSR - 2nd December 2018 at 05:02
[FONT=”Open sans”,Georgia,Times,”Times New Roman”,serif]based on these numbers from the above link .there is nothing they can do about it consider the limited space/skills with inefficient spending. you cannot spend 10 years and nothing to show for unless those people are involved in other aerospace projects.
This includes $194.6 million for research into fighter “mission system integration studies and manned-unmanned aircraft teaming technology,” and is on top of the $1.7 billion Japan has invested in fighter research since 2009. That first figure is also more than 10 times the amount spent on R&D for Japan’s Mitsubishi F-2 fighter, according to Uchimura
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Its all about consumer.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-Trends/Major-Japanese-companies-set-for-R-D-spending-binge
Aerospace development as complex as Steath fighter all the associated weopon systems. need huge area for development and another huge area for testing. Japan simply don’t have the land for this thing.
Santa Susana: A Compr
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-01-24/business/fi-23784_1_skunk-works
Cleaning Up a Bad Mess : Lockheed and Burbank Grapple With Costly Cleanup at Skunk Works
ehensive Cleanup
By: QuantumFX - 2nd December 2018 at 04:05
https://www.defensenews.com/digital-…d-fighter-jet/
For those who doubt capabilities and capacity of Japan to develop their own tech for next gen Fighters..
To add to that, here are some specs from succesful IHI XF9-1 turbofan ground tests – PDF (In Japanese). Specs appear to be:
Dry thrust ≥ 11,000 kgf (>107 kN)
With afterburner ≥ 15,000 kgf (>147 kN)
Length ~ 4.8 m
Diameter ~1 m
That dry-thrust in particular is quite impressive. F119 dry thrust is at least 98 kN but the final product may have exceeded that by 5% to 15%.
By: ananda - 2nd December 2018 at 03:21
For those who doubt capabilities and capacity of Japan to develop their own tech for next gen Fighters..
By: Sintra - 28th November 2018 at 17:38
why is the F-35 called Dave?
Vans, old story, some silly bunny at PPRUNE invented it.
When the name “Lightning II” was made public some chap at PPRUNE made a comment about the name being so uninspired that they might just call it “Dave”. And its a much better nickname than what the competition, namely the Boeing X-32, got. “Monica”…
Cheers
By: Sintra - 28th November 2018 at 17:35
Far too early to expect an FMS request for the whole lot – the deliveries from their existing order only began two years ago, and there will probably be a follow-on order for 20-25 F-35As first.
Its difficult to be certain about the future and plans do after all change (case-in-point: UK/Italy), but a report by the Nikkei can generally be taken to be credible, and its a interesting indication of the JASDF/MoD’s thinking about the future.
Vnomad, pretty much that, its a safe bet that the JASDF will keep on buying more F-35A´s while upgrading part of its Eagle fleet.
By: Vans - 28th November 2018 at 14:40
Izumo in Ski Jump configuration. also why is the F-35 called Dave?
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By: TomcatViP - 28th November 2018 at 13:52
[USER=”4698″]bring_it_on[/USER] :
Japan will likely need to build up capacity given where China is likely to be in the 2030+ time-frame so there will be plenty of demand for F-3’s in the 2030+ time-frame as long as they can get an F-3 at a reasonable cost to develop.
I pretty much think so. This is very encouraging for the F-3 as it leaves immediate operational needs out of the loop what gives more time for R&D (less cost) and open opportunities for a partnership with resetting the schedule to make it compatible with other nations (except South Korea, sadly).
We can now see realistic similarities b/w the Japan project and German needs or even the situation in the UK (understanding that Germany will order F-35s to replace their Tornadoes). Same delay, same mission etc…
So indeed, this is quite a good news for the F-3: devoid of any urgency (like the awkward re-launching of the F-22), this project will have plenty of space to mature on an efficient way.
Last but not least, I see more the upgraded meteor fielded for their upgraded F-15J.
By: Vnomad - 28th November 2018 at 12:43
I would point out that a) its a Nikkei story citing “unnammed sources”, b) there´s no FMS letter to the Congress about a Japanese F-35A/B/C/D/J/Y follow on order and c) the number of sales to foreign countries outside of the JSF partners without a prior FMS letter till now is zero.
While i have no doubts that Dave´s follow on orders by the JASDF are extremely likely and are being discussed right now, there´s no firm contract yet.
Far too early to expect an FMS request for the whole lot – the deliveries from their existing order only began two years ago, and there will probably be a follow-on order for 20-25 F-35As first.
Its difficult to be certain about the future and plans do after all change (case-in-point: UK/Italy), but a report by the Nikkei can generally be taken to be credible, and its a interesting indication of the JASDF/MoD’s thinking about the future.
By: Sintra - 28th November 2018 at 12:08
I would point out that a) its a Nikkei story citing “unnammed sources”, b) there´s no FMS letter to the Congress about a Japanese F-35A/B/C/D/J/Y follow on order and c) the number of sales to foreign countries outside of the JSF partners without a prior FMS letter till now is zero.
While i have no doubts that Dave´s follow on orders by the JASDF are extremely likely and are being discussed right now, there´s no firm contract yet.
By: djcross - 28th November 2018 at 11:31
I would expect Izumo to conduct 4 launch events in a 12 hour period. F-35s are designed to operate in a 4-ship flight but you also need to generate a spare jet for each event in case a jet breaks. That means there are 5 jets prepared for each event. F-35 should be capable of generating at least two sorties in a 12 hour period, which is easily done with 10 jets on the flight deck.
But I expect a third of F-35s to be down for maintenance. Which means another 3 jets are required, for a total of 13 jets on Izumo.
Multiply the 13 by 3, in the event that 2 Izumo class ships need sortie at the same time, add attrition spares and training and you get 40 F-35s.
By: J Boyle - 28th November 2018 at 06:42
While not reading the regional press, I’d have to say the real story here is Japanese/Chinese relations as opposed to simple aircraft numbers.
By: bring_it_on - 28th November 2018 at 03:19
The modernization requirement based purely on fleet replacement needs does not factor in what capability they will need in the coming decades given the qualitatively and quantitatively evolving airpower in their region. Japan will likely need to build up capacity given where China is likely to be in the 2030+ time-frame so there will be plenty of demand for F-3’s in the 2030+ time-frame as long as they can get an F-3 at a reasonable cost to develop.
By: LastOfGunfighters - 28th November 2018 at 02:11
I wish Washington would aggressive push for Japan to go with that modernized F-22 that Lockheed offered Japan awhile ago and get the USAF in on a few hundred. I’m pretty sure the Japanese are going to be in for a rude awakening when they discover the real cost of developing a 5th generation fighter.
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November 27, 2018 at 7:38 am