JASDF may be in the market for more F-35s

[zerion]

Inane question: on the roll out do we think the aircraft will have red or LO vis gray meatballs?

Why would it be Red?

Cuz they put it on all of their a/c to date.

[yeswepromise]

I dont think it will get color... neither will the AS birds. Both are in final now.... getting close!

[ngroot0]

JASDF releases images of first F-35
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
15 August 2016

The first Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for Japan was photographed at the Fort Worth production facility in mid-August.

The images, released by the Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) on 14 August, show aircraft 69-8701 (also designated AX-1) in its completed state ahead of flight tests and delivery to the international training fleet at Luke Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona, in the coming weeks. Four aircraft for the JASDF are currently being built at Fort Worth.

Japan has committed itself to buying 28 F-35As over the next five-years (6 of the aircraft are under contract), and has a total requirement of 42 to replace its ageing Mitsubishi-McDonnell Douglas F-4J Kai (Phantom II) aircraft, which have been in service since the early 1970s.

On 25 June 2014, then Japanese defence minister Itsunori Onodera announced that the F-35 would initially be based at Misawa, which is expected to receive the first 4 of about 20 aircraft during fiscal year 2017. The initial operating unit is expected to be either 301 or 302 Squadron.

http://www.janes.com/article/62957/jasd ... first-f-35

Picture in the article is really blurry. Serial of AX-1 is said to be 69-8701, but is not readable in the picture.

[zerion]

Lockheed says it wants Japan to do more work on the F-35

TOKYO (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp wants Japan to do more work on the F-35 program after earlier attempts to tempt Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with component supply contracts failed, a senior Lockheed executive said.
"There are industrial opportunities that are still available for Japan. The action is on their side of the ledger right now," Steve Over, director of international business development for the F-35 program, said in an interview at the Japan Aerospace 2016 show in Tokyo.
Japan has ordered 42 F-35 to replace its fleet of aging F-4s. Most of those will be put together by Mitsubishi Heavy at a final assembly and check out plant in Japan.
Japan's government and its companies declined to join the F-35 build at the start of the program as constraints on arms exports at the time meant they could not make components for defense equipment that would be used by foreign militaries.
Prime Minister Shinto Abe's government lifted that export ban in April 2014, but it was too late for Japanese industry to join the F-35 as top tier profit sharing partner. Subsequent talks for Mitsubishi Heavy to supply aft fuselage parts for BAE Systems Plc , one of the F-35 partners, fell through without agreement.
Japan, Over said, could still do that fuselage work or bid for other contracts if it wants to.
"In our heart and soul we would like to have more opportunity in Japan."
Getting Japan more involved in the F-35 could bolster Lockheed's chance of selling more of the stealth fighters to Japan...

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-lockhe ... 35-2016-10

[spazsinbad]

Japan Approves Record Defense Spending Amid China Tensions
22 Dec 2016 Isabel Reynolds & Emi Nobuhiro

"Japan Approves Record FY 2017 Budget
Japan’s cabinet approved a record defense budget of just over 5 trillion yen ($42.5 billion) for the year starting April, as tensions with China simmer over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The figure marks the fifth straight rise in annual military spending -- a trend that started after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in late 2012....

...Here are the main points of the two spending packages, which must be now passed by parliament:

• Defense budget for year starting April rises 1.4 percent to 5.1 trillion yen...

• Japan to budget for a further six Lockheed-Martin F-35 fighter aircraft at a cost of 88 billion yen; F-35 squadron to be established at Misawa, northern Japan..."

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/arti ... a-tensions

[zerion]

Long article

Exclusive: Japan secures extra cost cuts on U.S. F-35 fighter jet package - sources

Tokyo has secured cost cuts on support equipment for its next batch of six U.S. F-35 stealth fighter aircraft of around $100 million, according to sources and Japanese budget papers, on top of savings being finalised for all buyers of the high-tech jets...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan ... SKBN15G3UP

[zerion]

Does anyone subscribe? This looks interesting.

Lockheed Martin Offers Modified F-35 For Japan—Report
http://aviationweek.com/awindefense/loc ... pan-report

[popcorn]

All F-35s offered in the 2030 timeframe will surely be modified relative to what is available today.

[zerion]

All F-35s offered in the 2030 timeframe will surely be modified relative to what is available today.

Surely they'll be different, but they make it sound like they're doing something major. I want details!

[lbk000]

maybe they want them to carry xasm-3?

[popcorn]

Nothing to prevent the Japanese from going the Israeli approach if they're willing to foot the bill.

[neptune]

All F-35s offered in the 2030 timeframe will surely be modified relative to what is available today.

Surely they'll be different, but they make it sound like they're doing something major. I want details!

http://thediplomat.com/2017/06/japan-to ... f-missile/

Japan to Arm F-35 Joint Strike Fighter With Long-Range Stand-off Missile

By Franz-Stefan Gady
June 29, 2017

The Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) is purportedly considering arming its burgeoning fleet of F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter jets with the next-generation, long-range, precision-guided Joint Strike Missile (JSM), the Yomiuri newspaper reported on June 27. The JSM is a “promising candidate” for the F-35A as the JASDF is slowly developing a long-range preemptive strike capability, primarily aimed at targeting North Korean military installations in the event of war, the newspaper notes. (JSM will have land-attack and anti-ship capabilities and is being designed to have a range exceeding 150 nm even when fired at low attitude. The missile will deliver a 120-kg (265-lb.) warhead.)
However, despite some media reports to the contrary, the Japanese Ministry of Defense has so far not officially selected an air-to-ground missile system.

Other candidates for bolstering the JASDFs offensive capabilities include;
1- JSM, Joint Strike Missile
2- JASSM, Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile
3- JDAM, Joint Direct Attack Munition, GBU-31 air-to-ground guided bomb.

The JSM, co-developed by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and Norwegian defense company Kongsberg Gruppen, is a fifth-generation cruise missile specifically designed to fit inside the F-35A’s weapons bay to maintain the aircraft’s stealth capabilities. (The F-35A can purportedly carry up to two JSMs in its missile bay.) According to Raytheon features of the missile include an advanced engagement planning system that exploits the geography in the area; accurate navigation system for flight close to terrain; a high maneuverability to allow flight planning in close vicinity to land masses; a discriminating seeker with imaging infrared technology; two-way networking datalink (…) offering target-updates; as well as retargeting and mission-abort capabilities.

The JSM has been under development since 2008 and is slated to become fully operational by 2025 with initial operational capability expected in 2021. The missile is designed for medium-range anti-ship and land attack missions and can “take on high value, heavily defended targets,” according to Raytheon. “The long standoff range (distance from the aircraft to the target) ensures that the aircraft and pilots remain out of harm’s way.”……

Block 2B - JDAMs and the 500 lb GBU-12 Paveway II, .. AIM-120 AMRAAM.
Block 3F - 500 lb JDAM, the GBU-53/B SDB II, .. AIM-9X Sidewinder.
Block 4 -
- Block 4A in 2021
- Block 4B in 2023.
(This phase will also include usage of weaponry unique to British, Turkish, and other European countries)

…contract (N00019-16-C-0008) for development efforts for the Block 4 System Functional Review in support of the F-35A/B/C aircraft. Block 4 is a modernization program that includes new and upgraded capabilities to provide enhancements and continuous improvements to maintain viability against evolving threats, reduce life cycle costs, and improve operational suitability. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in May 2017.

….basic ordering agreement (N00019-14-G-0020). This order provides for non-recurring effort and integration tasks required to operate a hardware-in-the-loop laboratory used to build, modify, verify and validate, and distribute mission data file sets for the F-35. This contract will deliver modification kits to upgrade the RC West Block 3i Verification Validation Station to the Block 3F, 3F+, and 3F Digital Channelized Receiver/Technique Generator and Tuner Insertion Program configurations, and provide engineering support during the installation and integration of the modification kits, verification and validation test venue support in support of the F-35A aircraft for the governments of Japan and Israel, under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will … be completed in September 2021.

….as said elsewhere, the F-35 will continue to evolve with both software and hardware/ weapons…

[Dragon029]

The JSM doesn't require hardware modifications to use; the Aviation Week article title makes it sound like they're offering an F-35I (F-35J?) style deal.

[neptune]

The JSM doesn't require hardware modifications to use; the Aviation Week article title makes it sound like they're offering an F-35I (F-35J?) style deal.

....having read AW for twenty years, I'll submit the article will be about the JSM being available in 8yrs. (clickbait) and.....a JASDF sticker to go on the outside of the fuselage, similar to the Israeli Star of David....

[bring_it_on]

BEIJING—Lockheed Martin is offering an improved version of the F-35 Lightning for Japan’s requirement for a fighter to deploy in the 2030s, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
Adapting an existing design is the cheapest of three options, the others being developing a fighter independently and doing so with another country, Nikkei says, citing no sources.

The paper notably fails to mention an even cheaper possibility that the government has been considering—importation of an unmodified fighter type.

Nikkei gave no details of the modified F-35, which would presumably be called the F-35J. Japan is buying 42 F-35As, assembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), as replacements for F-4 Phantoms. For its next program it wants to replace MHI F-2s in the 2030s. MHI would presumably undertake any necessary development, fabrication and assembly of the airframe.

The Lightning in its current form is rather distant from the ideal of Japanese defense ministry engineers for a 2030s fighter. Their concept for an all-new aircraft includes internal carriage of six long-range air-to-air missiles, such as MBDA Meteors, and two of short range. Looking for great range and endurance, they have produced concept designs for a fighter larger than the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and much larger than the F-35.

Britain is integrating the Meteor on the F-35 but the U.S. fighter will carry no more than four such weapons internally, and then with no room for short-range air-to-air missiles. Lockheed Martin conceivably could improve the F-35’s range and endurance with external tanks, perhaps conformal and at some cost to stealth. It also could fit the lightest Lightning version, the F-35A, with the bigger and more voluminous wing of the F-35C, the variant designed for catapult launch and arrested recovery at sea.

Japanese avionics would also be possible for an F-35J. Israel will at least load its own software on its version, the F-35I.

In June 2016 the Japanese defense ministry sought information from aircraft manufacturers about three possibilities for the fighter program: creating a new type, modifying an existing one or importing.

The possibility of international joint development has since emerged as a variation on the first option. Britain and Japan agreed in March to look at the possibility of jointly creating a fighter for the 2030s; BAE Systems would be the obvious partner for MHI, while Rolls-Royce worked with Japanese propulsion specialist IHI.

Sweden’s ambassador to Tokyo says Japan also should consider Saab.

The F-2 was a modification of an existing type, the F-16. Lockheed Martin supported the development effort.