The U.S. State Department has approved a contract for the sale of 105 Lockheed Martin F-35 fifth generation fighter jets to Japan, under a contract estimated at over $23 billion in value. The contract will reportedly include 63 F-35A and 42 F-35B fighters and 110 Pratt and Whitney F135 engines - the most powerful engine used by any fighter jet in the world. Also included are related maintenance equipment and munitions, as well as technical support and training, with the contract expected to take 25 years to implement. An official statement by the State Department regarding the sale stressed that “it is vital to U.S. national interest to assist Japan in developing and maintaining a strong and effective self-defense capability.” Japan already fields an F-35A squadron and has several more previously purchased fighters on order. The fighters are assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan itself - one of the only three countries which does assembly work other than the U.S. and Italy.
Japanese F-4EJ and F-35A Fighters in Formation Japanese F-4EJ and F-35A Fighters in Formation
Japan notably intends to use the F-35B for deployments from its two Izumo Class carriers, each of which can accommodate around 12 of the aircraft. The B variant is less capable in combat, with a much shorter range and inferior manoeuvrability, but is prized for its ability to perform short takeoffs and vertical landings optimising it for small carriers and makeshift runways. This could potentially allow the fighter to be deployed from island outposts - possibly the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands disputed with China or the South Korean held Dokdo island to which Japan lays a claim. With airbases across Japan well within range of a wide array of Chinese and North Korean precision guided missiles, a fighter capable of operating without such bases can be considered a highly prized asset. Japan’s Izumo Class carriers were notably designed from the outset with the F-35B in mind, and the country is reportedly considering plans for heavier and more capable carriers in future which may deploy more capable F-35C fighters.
F-35 (top) and F-22 Fifth Generation Fighters F-35 (top) and F-22 Fifth Generation Fighters
The sale of F-35s to Japan is the second largest arms export contract in U.S. history, after an F-15SA fighter contract with Saudi Arabia. Japan was notably initially hesitant regarding an F-35 purchases and did not initially appear willing to joint the F-35 program, with the acquisition out of line with its previous purchases and the historical orientation of its fleet. Japan previously fielded an air force heavily oriented towards high end air to air combat, and relied on heavyweight twin engine designs such as the third generation F-4EJ Phantom and fourth generation F-15J Eagle which were based on the most capable American air superiority platforms of their respective times. With the F-35 being a successor to the F-16, a much lighter single engine design, and with the fighter primarily oriented towards an air to ground role rather than air to air combat and designed to be produced in larger numbers at a low cost, its acquisition on a large scale marks a major shift in the orientation of Japan’s armed forces.
Japan strongly favoured acquiring the F-22 Raptor instead of the F-35, a heavyweight twin engine air superiority fighter and direct successor to the F-4 and F-15, but was denied permission to purchase the more elite jets. The F-35 is notably much less capable in air to air combat, with half the missile payload and a much lower speed, climb rate and altitude ceiling and a shorter range, meaning it is less than ideal when Japan faces a growing challenge to its control of the skies from Chinese and Russian next generation fighter programs such as the J-20 and Su-57. The F-35 is notably very far from fully combat capable at present, particularly for high end air to air operations, although issues are expected to have been fixed close to the end of the decade.