Japan cleared to buy 105 Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters for $23bn

[Indos]

f35 may lose its dominance as china and russia are developing its more effective killer weapons,japan should limit buying these to few jets and focus on airdefence and unmanned drones as future is of unmanned drones and non kinetic direct energy airdefences like emp guns which can destroy f35 like jets with speed of light

The planner in Japan has better knowledge about it (there are Phd and military aviation experts). The start of Japan 5 generation fighter is a prove that conventional manned jet fighter is still needed at least until another 30 years.

 

[Rana4pak]

America n Japan relationship is about master n slave so japan has Left no option.

 

[Yaseen1]

remind me of u.s planners who faced defeat from vietnam due to wrong assessment of circumstances of war although they are much more experienced than japan in fighting war

The planner in Japan has better knowledge about it (there are Phd and military aviation experts). The start of Japan 5 generation fighter is a prove that conventional manned jet fighter is still needed at least until another 30 years.

 

[KAL-EL]

If it were up to me (which it obviously isn’t)

Japan would absolutely be armed to the teeth

 

[Indos]

remind me of u.s planners who faced defeat from vietnam due to wrong assessment of circumstances of war although they are much more experienced than japan in fighting war

US doesnt lost war in Vietnam, they just dont get enough political support anymore in their own country to continue the war. Vietnam was also heavily supported by both Russia and China at that time.

Just like in Afghanistan case, do you think US lost battle to Taliban after Trump decided to leave Afghanistan where Taliban is still strong ?

 

[-------]

23bn and that's not including overall lifetime cost which will likely be tens of billions more!

 

[dr.knowhow]

F 35 is multi role stealth fighter where are X2 is air superiority fighter so I don't think Japan will abandon it. So far this deal is not accepted by Japan. It only states that USA has offered the sales. In my opinion Japan will buy F35 B for sure for their aircraft carrier but don't know about the rest of the deal. Japan uses US weapons already so could see this sale materializing.

X2 is just a technology demonstrator. F-3 is the fighter jet they are going to develop.

Japanese indigenous fighter is dead on arrival imo ... there is no way the US would ever share the core stealth technologies with Japan. This would hurt their business and may result in the secrets leaking out to China or Russia. IMHO, the only serious 5th generation fighter projects are the F-22, F-35, J-20, and Su-57 ... all the others are just for show.

No such shit Sherlock. Very bold of you to think that Japan doesn't have tech.

Japan never stops making me disappointed. Like happened to Germany, US holds Japan from the balls too. Japan literally has everything can be needed to build a super fighter or any other sophisticated weapons.

Disappointed for what? F-35 is very capable in almost every aspect. Also, the F-3 is a different fighter jet to what is F-35. It's going to supplement what F-35 where it lacks in relative such as in air superiority and anti ship. No parties losing anything here.

no 105 jets is the total with 63 A variant for the JASDF and 42 B variant for the JMSDF

You're wrong. Total 147. Those 42 jets already ordered are not included in the new DSCA approval. They are replacing around 100 F-15J and around 40 F-4EJ with total 147 jets. Nothing to get confused of. The number has been reported countless times.

 

[Armchair]

Japanese F-16s are probably up for sale then...

 

[dr.knowhow]

Japanese F-16s are probably up for sale then...

They ain't got no F-16. They've got F-2 which is based on Agile Falcon with Japanese avionics and back-then state of the art composite material wings. It's being constantly upgraded and new mission computer is under development. It's going to be used until mid-late 2030's and is going to be replaced by F-3, not F-35.

 

[Figaro]

Japan never stops making me disappointed. Like happened to Germany, US holds Japan from the balls too. Japan literally has everything can be needed to build a super fighter or any other sophisticated weapons.

Not on its own at least. Much of the F-2s technologies were from the United States, not to mention the components. For a fifth generation fighter like the X-2, I highly doubt the US would be willing to do many technology transfers for sensitivity issues, especially on the stealth side. I really doubt the X-2 will be successful unless the US and Japan reach an agreement on these issues ... far more likely the US might develop a F-35 variant to suit Japanese needs imo.

 

[damm1t]

Disappointed for what? F-35 is very capable in almost every aspect. Also, the F-3 is a different fighter jet to what is F-35. It's going to supplement what F-35 where it lacks in relative such as in air superiority and anti ship. No parties losing anything here.

Easy bro, easy. No one underestimates F35 capabilities. First read well then reply me. My point was that Japan should be the one who builds F35-like fighters long ago with all their technological infrastructure, working discipline and economical might.

Not on its own at least. Much of the F-2s technologies were from the United States, not to mention the components. For a fifth generation fighter like the X-2, I highly doubt the US would be willing to do many technology transfers for sensitivity issues, especially on the stealth side.

A well planned roadmap can get over such issues for Japan. No one gives crucial technologies. They can build for themselves.

 

[dr.knowhow]

Not on its own at least. Much of the F-2s technologies were from the United States, not to mention the components. For a fifth generation fighter like the X-2, I highly doubt the US would be willing to do many technology transfers for sensitivity issues, especially on the stealth side. I really doubt the X-2 will be successful unless the US and Japan reach an agreement on these issues ... far more likely the US might develop a F-35 variant to suit Japanese needs imo.

Which they already rejected? Thus its future fighter program dubbed F-3. X-2 is only a tech demonstrator.

Yes, Japan got lots of help developing the F-2 but the core technologies were developed themselves as well. The AESA radar which was very very new back then, composite uni-structure wing and so on. The US refused to transfer the tech related to flight controls so they just went on and developed 4 channel FBW based on their experience from developing the F-1 as well.

Actually, they did get engine tech from the US but it was in exchange for the tech transfer of aforementioned composite wing fabrication technology to the US.

Nowadays they've already deployed FBL controlled aircraft and newer iterations of their AESA radar. The R&D of core avionics hasn't stopped ever since F-2 development.

You're opinions about Japan being incapable of developing 5th gen fighter are too far-fetched. It's actually even funny considering F-3 is going to be deployed almost 30 years after F-22.

 

[Armchair]

They ain't got no F-16. They've got F-2 which is based on Agile Falcon with Japanese avionics and back-then state of the art composite material wings. It's being constantly upgraded and new mission computer is under development. It's going to be used until mid-late 2030's and is going to be replaced by F-3, not F-35.

Well, I think it makes more sense to get rid of F-16s (F-2s) as they are also multirole while F-15Js have range and payload, as well as an airframe that can last longer (see Israeli F-15s and USAF in that regard).

I don't know a great deal about Japan, but that's what would make rational sense to me.