Japan considers deploying F-35B stealth jets to ASDF base in southwest

Base at least some of that F-35 fleet in Okinawa.

Would like to see those F-35Bs get training on the Izumo's deck asap. The Chinese PLA Navy isn't waiting.

F-35, the boondoggle that falls out of the sky. An albatross foisted upon Japan by the USA. As if a 'defensive' posture will in any way lead to what is obvious: a diplomatic solution with China. Weighing 25 tons and costing $100 million per copy, the Lockheed Martin F-35 with its paltry 69% readiness rate can’t replace the reliable, cheap and comparatively lightweight F-16. While stealthy and brimming with high-tech sensors, it’s also maintenance-intensive, buggy and unreliable. Good luck with the not ready for prime time fighter jet.

Most who are not in the business do not understand why there is an F-35. If you are thinking air superiority fighter, forget it. It probably should have been called the A-35. Its reason for being what it is isn't the air to air threat. It is the increasingly long ranges, high speeds and powerful radars of the latest ground based air defense systems like S-400 or HQ-9 and HQ-20. Those systems make it impossible for any fourth gen fighter, meaning F-15, F-16, F/A-18 in all its variants, Tonado, Rafale and Typhoon, to penetrate the airspace of an enemy who possesses these system and knows how to use them. First day of war against an enemy like China, even North Korea and Russia, the F-15 and F-16 have no mission to fly. They would be shot down by those ground based systems long before they ever got close enough to dogfight the enemy fighters. They will never reach their targets and bomb them. It will be a one way mission like the torpedo bombers at Midway. Same for the A-10, it can be engaged and shot down long before it gets close enough to the front lines to provide close air support. All those fourth gen aircraft were designed to be survivable against systems like SA-5/6 and SA-8. S-300 was a game changer with five times the kinematic range of earlier systems and powerful phased array radars that are tough to jam and can track 100 targets at once. S-400 pushes the kinematic range out to 400 km and speeds over Mach 5. The only aircraft that are survivable against an enemy like China and Russia are the F-22, F-35, B-2 and very soon the B-22, plus NGAD, which the USAF admitted a few months ago they have been testing and are close to a production decision. An F-35 is going to fly a very detailed mission plan to maximize it's low observable features to prevent being detected by an enemy and thus not get shot down. If it ever gets to the merge in a dogfight the pilot did an awful lot of things wrong. The F-35 will be able to penetrate the best defended sites, bomb them and go home. These are the only airplanes that have any chance of returning from a successful mission against a peer enemy today. It is just how it is. After the B-2s and F-35s have ground down the enemies air defense sufficiently then the fourth gen aircraft can start to fly missions, at which point the F-35 in a non stealthy mode carries a huge payload of ordnance, as much as B-29 carried over the skies of Japan in WWII.

Btw, it isn't any prettier for the poor fellow flying a big reflective Flanker or Mig-29 against the modern western air defenses.

Obtw, fully loaded the F-35 max take off weight is 35 tons.

If the F-35 is such a piece of junk, then why are the air forces of China and Russia trying so hard to build their own versions of it?

Would like to see those F-35Bs get training on the Izumo's deck asap. 

Would like to see 10 Izumo class ships plus 10 full deck aircraft carriers asap.

Would like to see the government dump article 9 asap.

Excellent post, Dessert.

And the F-35 has most of its problems worked out now and it’s pilots routinely hose Vipers owing to the fact that it dictates the terms of engagement by engaging before the Viper even knows it’s there and it’s there and it’s superior initial (but inferior sustained) turn rate.

Oh, and production costs are now down on par with those of the F-18.

This aircraft is a paradigm shift in combat aviation and there were some bugs to work out just as there were w/ the F-15, but the F-35 is a game changing aircraft.

And what’s to consider, Japan? They should be there NOW

About the best the US and its allies can expect out of its fourth gen platforms is for the B-1Bs, B-52s, F-15Es and maybe some F/A-18Es to stand off outside the reach of those S-400s and shoot JASMs at the Chinese or Russians. F-15Cs and Ds, F-16s and A-10s are going to sit out the early days of a peer to peer war until the enemies air defenses are pretty well beat down and it is safe for them to fly.

If deadlines are met, without any unforeseen events. The F-35B air group is expected to be deployed in Izumo in 2027. At the earliest.

No. The international defense press is reporting they will Japan deploy F-35Bs on Izumo in FY24 and in the interim the US Marines are planning to deploy their own F-35Bs on Izumo and Kaga.

Hehehe. Too scared to deploy near Russia because S400/500 can easily shot down, and as they have 220 serious safety issues, if they crash in the sea, minimal collateral damage. Just cost.

One wonders where such claims come from. Can you back any of this with reputable data? Defeating systems like S400 (S500 is still in development) is the exact reason the US spent all that time and money to field the F-35. It, the F-22 and B-2 are the only current aircraft that can safely operate in areas defended by S400. The "220 serious safety issues" is just plain false. Where do you come up with this stuff?

If the F-35 is such a piece of junk, then why are the air forces of China and Russia trying so hard to build their own versions of it?

Exactly! The same reasons that make an F-15, F-16, F/A-18, B-1B, Tornado, Typhoon or Rafale unable to survive over skies defended by the best Russian and Chinese made ground based air defense systems (note; the driver is the ground to air threat, not the air to air threat combined with their excellent ground based radars and the airborn radars on the Mainstay and E-3 Sentry) makes fourth gen Russian and Chinese fighters like the MiG-29, all the variants of the Flanker and Fullback, TU-160 the J-10 and JH-7A and H-7 completely unsurvivable against the best western air defense systems. Only all aspect low observable aircraft can survive in the modern high end peer to peer fight.

HimariYamada Apr. 5 12:01 pm JST

Would like to see those F-35Bs get training on the Izumo's deck asap. 

If deadlines are met, without any unforeseen events. The F-35B air group is expected to be deployed in Izumo in 2027. At the earliest.

Base at least some of that F-35 fleet in Okinawa.

you probably meant to say something like Oklahoma? Because who needs this garbage here?

F-35, the boondoggle that falls out of the sky. An albatross foisted upon Japan by the USA. As if a 'defensive' posture will in any way lead to what is obvious: a diplomatic solution with China.

Weighing 25 tons and costing $100 million per copy, the Lockheed Martin F-35 with its paltry 69% readiness rate can’t replace the reliable, cheap and comparatively lightweight F-16. While stealthy and brimming with high-tech sensors, it’s also maintenance-intensive, buggy and unreliable. Good luck with the not ready for prime time fighter jet.

Hehehe. Too scared to deploy near Russia because S400/500 can easily shot down, and as they have 220 serious safety issues, if they crash in the sea, minimal collateral damage. Just cost.

You can build 320 F-35 jammers for the price of one plane. Admittedly there is a 6min time frame to jam and destroy, but there is more than one satilite floating up there, watching closely.