Japan's military chief says F-35 is best fighter

I still think they should have bought some Hornets to carry them over until 2017.

Except that Americans will never provide the data from the black box. So, we are totally dependent on the good will of uncle sam.Good!

OssanAmerica I still think they should have bought some Hornets to carry them over until 2017...

...Or maybe eurofighter.

Except that Americans will never provide the data from the black box. So, we are totally dependent on the good will of uncle sam.Good!

Nothing wrong with that. This is one reason we have the top fighter pilots in the world, by NOT allowing even our closet allies on the most sensitive top secrets of those vital datas. Totally classified as it should be.

the F-35 is way over budget and riddled with problems... hard to see it ever being useful except for bankrolling Lockheed Martin and other military contractors who suck up billions of taxpayers money....

I wholeheartedly agree, it's the best...boondoggle! The second-best boondoggle is the euro-fighter.

This is a great pic of him with his model. Obviously an Airfix buff. Picture would have been even better if it had included Prince Pickles and Parsley-chan.

Japan gets F-35s. Today the F-22s were sent to SK for military drills. What about the Okinawan Osprey forces. Where can they be sent? Recycle is a good place to start.

Someone is trying to put the spin on this topic, not saying this guy is though. It's overly expensive, I've seen reports that this plane isn't as maneuverable as the newer Russian planes, plus the VTOL version won't be that great either. So when this guy says it's the best candidate, does he really believe that? Or does he mean it is just the best candidate from all the planes currently on the market? In the modern world it's not like there are lot of planes to choose from these days.

Japan can't just cancel like other countries, because this aircraft has a large "make work" element to it. Japan has wrangled an assembly-in-Japan condition and has all its local suppliers to consider.

Hey, it's Lockheed, for crying out loud. Lockheed and Japan have long had a very, um, "cozy" relationship. In the end, it's us taxpayers to who will pay the cost overruns and other screw-ups, while the wealthy corporate stakeholders who screwed up will collect their juicy profits, regardless of what happens.

On paper, this is a great plane it's a great paper plane. If a great paper plane is required and can fly I would like to offer my services in supplying the required elastic bands $ 1000000000 for each elastic band but it might take 10 years to start and the cost might increase. But trust me...!

One thing I didn't see in the article is if Iwasaki did his own testing of the plane since he was an F-15 pilot. He must have done more than just talk.

The plane is not so bad. You have all these people saying how crap it is because they got told its crap when they don't even know it. It's a good plane, if it wasn't it would have been canceled.

Looks like my three year-old with a new train.

The plane is not so bad. You have all these people saying how crap it is because they got told its crap when they don't even know it. It's a good plane, if it wasn't it would have been canceled.

I was going to touch on that point. Well said. People believe all the negative hype that is surrounded by planes like the F-35 and the Osprey, perfectly good planes that had some problems like many things do when they first roll out or first generation, but with some modification, reassessing the situation and located the main cause for the problem, how it happened and how to avoid future problems from arising, shouldn't be a problem. If it were, then NONE of us could ever fly on a commercial plane again. Stop trusting the media on this, trust the military and the people making, flying and working on these planes. I don't think any of our men and women have a suicide wish.

Stop trusting the media on this, trust the military and the people making, flying and working on these planes. I don't think any of our men and women have a suicide wish.

Unfortunately it is the very people working on this fighter who have come out and said it has many issues.... the computer combat systems apparently have huge issues which is one of the reasons the plane is running way late... if the combat systems dont work as they should then it will be a suicide mission....

Well, to put it bluntly, what else could he have said? Even though I'm of the side that figures F-35 isn't all it is hyped to be, it is still the only stealth fighter Japan is likely to get for at least the next 15 years. Nothing left to do but pray.

Aircraft companies have become very comfortable with massive P.R. and lobbying campaigns to promote their products. After all, it's a do-or-die proposition for them. Maybe the worst example is the C-130 and variants, which the US Congress has literally pushed on the Pentagon in excess of their expressed needs. When the history of the post-cold-war era is written it will be obvious that the decline of the US and the accompanying drag on Western Europe was due in large part to stunts like this.

it's a lemon. Why promote US companies that are failures?

It's a good plane, if it wasn't it would have been canceled. Yeah, like the 787. ( ´・‿-)

Why do all these new fighter jets in various courtries are looking at buying...suck?...or at least a load of people say they suck? Total reinvention of the wheel seems unneded for a conventional fighter. Why don't they just evolve/update the existing hardware that seems to work fine (to an ignorant non-military person like me) like the F14 & f18??

It's a good plane, if it wasn't it would have been canceled. Yeah, like the 787. ( ´・‿-)

787 which will be back in service soon.

@madmel, You seem to be looking at the technological side of the picture and you might be right, But every arms-manufacturing country has an incalculably huge financial interest in maintaining the charade. The Russian's latest toy might pull 3.7 g and hit 2000 mph so we need to design something that can pull 3,8 g and go 2100 mph. It's not rocket science ;) We're talking jobs in congressional districts and fat campaign contributions.

And then guess what the "bad guys" will do.