Japanese plans to add 105 Lockheed Martin F-35s to its planned leet of 42 which will make it the world’s second-largest F-35 operator.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga outlined the plans under the country’s Mid-Term Defense Program (MTDP), which covers iscal years 2019 to iscal 2023. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made it clear Japan’s shift in policy away from purely defence orientated forces to an ability to project power to counter hostile activities with a more aggressive posture is a response to increasing Chinese activity in Northeast Asia and the threat from North Korea.
Japan’s F-35 leet is likely to comprise 107 conventional take-of and landing (CTOL) F-35As and 40 short take-of and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35Bs.
No timescale has been published for the establishment of the leet of 147 F-35s but it is likely that some will be built in the United States at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth plant and the rest at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ (MHI) F-35 inal assembly and check-out facility at Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
The Nagoya plant has delivered ten of 42 F-35As ordered for the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) in 2011. Four others were built in Fort Worth. However, MHI’s production rate of the F-35A, six per year from 2019, is probably too low to satisfy JASDF requirements as suggested by the funding allocation under the MTDP. Secretary Suga’s statement that: “The security environment is getting severe … this plan needs to be implemented quickly” supports that contention.
The F-35A is slated to supplant the JASDF’s F-4 Phantoms as well as the air arm’s older F-15 Eagles, around 100 of which need replacing urgently. Looking to the future, there is a requirement to replace Japan’s entire leet of Eagles, perhaps another 100 aircraft, although those more capable F-15s are to be upgraded in the near term.
Japan plans to ly its F-35Bs from the Japan Maritime Self- Defense Force’s (JMSDF) two Izumo-class helicopter carriers, JS Izumo and JS Kaga. The vessels, the largest in the JMSDF leet, will be re-designated as multi-purpose escort destroyers to comply with Japan’s paciist constitution that limits Japan Self Defense Force branches to self-defence. Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said: “The Izumo was originally designed as a multipurpose escort ship, so it wouldn’t pose any threat to other countries if ighter jets are deployed on it.”
Shipbuilders Marine United Corporation (MUC) say the 27,000- ton ships, which have always been intended to operate jets, can be converted relatively easily to ly F-35Bs. They have already had their light decks treated to withstand the heat from the nozzle blast from the F-35’s single engine. The ships elevators are big enough to move Lightning IIs between the upper and lower decks.
Originally intended as antisubmarine warfare (ASW) ships equipped with seven SH-60K ASW helicopters and seven Agusta Westland MCM-101 mine countermeasure helicopters, the Izumo-class vessels would not be able to carry a signiicant number of F-35Bs at any one time.
