Crunch choice on new jet fighter looms over Tokyo air show

Yeah, that photo isn't a "prototype of the first Japanese stealth-fighter". It's the ATD-X, which is merely an aircraft designed to test developmental stealth technologies.

Wow Bertie seems to have bought the Chinese propaganda. China is indeed positioning itself as a superpower in the region and they show all the signs of doing so. I dont think they will attack Japans mainland in an overseeable future but they will probably do what they are allowed to in order to get more islands ( Japanese or any other countries) for so called defensive purposes. Most likely they will try to politically destabilize Okinawa to gain more political influence. A few years from now India will probably try to position themselves as a great counterweight to China and it will probably be easy for them since China seems determined to burn more international bridges every year.

Despite distaste for military technology advancement, one positive spin is that technologies develop which can be applied in other fields.

One further problem though is people's training and know-how. Sometimes there are just not enough personnel to go around in some militaries. Gone are the days when they could just shave off the high school graduating male populations, and after a couple of lessons stick them in mass-produced Zeros with 250 kg bombs slung underneath and point them at enemy warships.

There is NO threat from NK

If we speak about combat aviation, then there is no serious threat from NK indeed, because its aircraft are mostly obsolete. Nevertheless there IS threat from NK until its missiles fly over Japan or keep crashing near its waters.

And China's "expanding power" is more a response to the U.S./Japan military build up

I've never heard of any Japanese or US military build-up at the Senkakus.

Japanese diplomats should do their job

Of course. But even the best diplomacy has its limits, and even the wisest diplomats are useless if the opposite side decides to use military force. If you want peace, be ready for war, you can not defend yourself with speeches and texts of treaties. So Japan needs these fighters, because well-equipped military force is a very handy and solid diplomatic tool.

No threat? That is head in the sand mentality. China has billions to spend on it's military since regulation drove manufacturing out of every modern western nation. And they are intending to flex that muscle.

BertieWoosterOct. 12, 2016 - 07:59AM JST There is NO threat from NK. And China's "expanding power" is more a response to the U.S./Japan military build up than >any desire to colonise the rest of the planet.

North Korea has been a threat since 1990 and the entire world has and continues to recognize this. The U.S. pivot to Asia and changes in Japan and other nations' military posture have all been a response to China's unilateral territorial expansion even defying international law. China needs to get over it's sense of entitlement and superiority and learn to get along with it's neighbors. But I guess that's too tall an order for a totalitarian dictatorship protected by the PLA.

There is NO threat from NK. And China's "expanding power" is more a response to the U.S./Japan military build up than any desire to colonise the rest of the planet.

Diplomats are supposed to negotiate and handle the rough edges.

Japanese diplomats should do their job instead of sending reports to each other and holding endless meetings.