Japan Will Buy a Lot More F-35 Stealth Fighters
The move comes and Tokyo seeks to modernize its air force in the face of North Korea and China.
Japan has decided upon making a massive, $23 billion F-35 stealth fighter purchase as part of a specific and decided strategic plan to counter Chinese and North Korean threats in Asia and replace its aging, yet high-performing, fleet of F-15J fighter jets.
In total, Japan appears to be buying nearly seventy F-35As and forty-two F-35Bs as part of a collective multi-year effort to overhaul its air fleet of existing, decades-old F-15Js and F-4s, a story in
Does Japan Need to Develop a New Fighter Aircraft?
China’s military buildup, coupled with existing problems associated with imports from the U.S., may make such a move a necessity.
By
January 11, 2021
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The Japanese archipelago lies in a volatile region rife with historical tensions and territorial disputes. China’s defense spending has increased at a double-digit rate annually for much of the past three decades. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has drastically modernized its air capabilities with development of the J-20 fighter and the upcoming FC-31, and has demonstrated consistently assertive behavior, including airspace violations and military buildups in the South China Sea.