Japan to buy 105 F-35 U.S. stealth warplanes: Trump

Kissing Trump's butt (Part Two) with Japanese taxpayers money! No thank you Abe, next time give me a kiss before you stick it in please!

And there you have it... last time it was sales of some highly expensive defense system and this time around it’s 105 new planes. All to keep Donald happy and play to his whims.

WTF!!! If Japan really needs these planes then they should be developed and built in Japan, or at least partly so. What’s the point of importing your defense from a different country and using off the shelf systems?. Where is Japan’s strategic advantage here?

Abe is continuing to use Japan’s tax income like his own personal stash and in the meantime there are so many problems domestically that he is totally ignoring.

I am really hoping that Japan will eventually have strong and empathetic leaders, but it won’t happen soon. Maybe my kids will see it...

So one of the main reasons he’s here has arisen. Guess we gotta start printing fake money?

at least they are eschewing euphemism, and calling them what they are: WARplanes

Seriously, what is Abe thinking ? Giving all this to a guy who could change his mind on a whim, or because the voices in his head or on TV told him to.

Trump is not the President of the US. He's the top salesman for the military industrial complex.

Abe will use the money from the next consumption tax rise to buy the warplanes. Military spending rose sharply after the last tax hike. Abe is like the guy who stole an old woman's credit card to buy a new suit.

Japan has to buy 105 U.S.-made stealth warplanes, why? to control USA mad cow?

What's he going to buy them with?

This is utterly insane.

This is a win-win for everyone but the Japanese taxpayers. It makes Trump look like a good salesman, while at the same time Abe ensures the JA vote by not having to open domestic markets to competition in order to reduce the trade imbalance.

Meanwhile, many schools still cannot afford air conditioning.

Good Move for Japan, China is a threat to everyone in that region! Strong Military is always important! Abe is a very good leader and knows that he has to beef up the military.

What's he going to buy them with?

Option 1: US will lend them the money.

Option 2: It's getting harder and harder for Japanese govt to borrow domestically. They'll have to look outside. Let's see, which country has money they can lend Japan? ....China?

This is excellent news to those who want to narrow US-Japan trade gap.

US has "nothing to offer" to Japan when it comes to food (low quality beef) and cars (too big, too impractical).

US offering top dollar defense weaponry/systems to a great ally like Japan is the only way forward to narrow trade defecits.

Trump said F35s are called stealth aircraft "because, the fact is you can't see them." No, he is wrong. The aircraft are called so because the deal is a deal of steal.

An F35 costs $105 million per aircraft, excluding an annual maintenance cost of $280 million. Since Japan is said to ultimately buy 147 F35s, the purchase will total up to $56 billion.

Japan is also to buy 17 Ospreys in the total amount of $3.3 billion. In addition, Japan agreed to buy two Aegis Ashore systems for $5.5 billion.

What a comic strip it is! Abe trying hard to placate Trump by binge-buying of so much deadwood! The Aegis Ashore is even an unfinished product with no proof of its practicality and accuracy. But such is the relationship between Japan and the great U.S.: a boss-follower relationship.

It's not like Japan makes anything of value in its own self defense.

And as soon as Trump leaves Abe will confirm that the tax increase will go on as scheduled, since the government has no money for social services.

F35's are made by Lockheed, makers of the F - 104 Starfighter, or 'Widowmaker'.

That too was purchased in bulk, particularly by the German Luftwaffe, despite it's appalling crash record.

Lockheed later got busted for bribery. I wonder who in Japan is getting their palm greased?

Have any of you looked at all the reports of how many problems there are with F - 35's?

@Paul_Barbara

Lockheed later got busted for bribery. I wonder who in Japan is getting their palm greased?

I already explained the market situation for you.

3 out of 4 fifth gen fighters in volume production in 2025 would be made by Japan's enemies China and Korea.

There is only one 5th gen fighter that Japan can choose, hence Lockheed didn't need to bribe anyone.

@taikutsujin

while at the same time Abe ensures the JA vote by not having to open domestic markets to competition in order to reduce the trade imbalance.

This has nothing to do with Japan's market protection and everything to do with Japan paying what Trump considers to be "protection money".

Trump will continue to demand Japan's auto and agricultural market access.

@Realization

Japan has to buy 105 U.S.-made stealth warplanes, why?

Japan has to have something to fly when F-4, F-2, and half of F-15 retire by 2030. Otherwise Chinese fighters can fly over Japanese airspace freely unopposed as Japan won't have fighter jets left to scramble.

There will be only four 5th gen fighters in mass production circa 2025; the F-35, China's J-20 and J-31, and Korea's KF-X. Obviously from Japan's perspective the J-20, the J-31, and the KF-X are unacceptable, leaving Japan with the F-35 as the only acceptable option.

@MrHeisei

If Japan really needs these planes then they should be developed and built in Japan

Japan is getting out of military combat aviation business to focus on civilian airliner aviation.

Not only has Japan abandoned all domestic fighter development program, but Japan also stopped the domestic assembly of F-35s, all 105 units ordered by Abe will be manufactured in Texas and delivered to Japan as finished jets.