Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: Japan has decided once again to go ahead with US defence giant Lockheed Martin to build its next-generation fighter jet F-X or F-3.
According to the Japanese media report – Japan based company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Lockheed Martin will work jointly to develop new fighter jets to replace Japan’s aging fleet of F-2 fighters. The F-X fighter program cost will be around $40 billion.
F-2 fighters were also developed by MHI and Lockheed Martin two decades ago.
Lockheed Martin was an expected pick as the company proposed a hybrid design based on its F-35 and F-22 jets, Media report says.
American companies including Boeing and Northrop Grumman and British BAE Systems and Rolls Royce had also shown interest in the program.
According to international politics experts – Japan today is facing an increasing threat from China’s expansionist claims on the Japanese-held islands. North Korea is also a major adversary and Tokyo has finally decided to upgrade its capabilities to strike the enemy territory, if necessary.
To counter unexpected attacks of enemies – Japan had announced a plan to procure 147 F-35 jets which would replace the F-16 warplanes and Washington had approved the sale of 105 F-35 worth $23 billion under the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft program. The Trump administration is also trying to counter China’s expansionist strategy.
Japan and China both are claiming the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands located in the East China Sea as their own territory.
On Japan’s move – Beijing expressed its views and said “having such advanced jets in the region could be detrimental to the security of both China and Russia.”
Some Chinese political experts are saying that “Tokyo will amend its peaceful constitution at the behest of the US, its key defence partner and become a hostile force.”
The Defense Ministry designated MHI as the primary contractor due to its vast experience in the production of combat aircraft as per the needs of the nation and has already produced the F-2 multi-role fighter and F-1 Supersonic strike aircraft. The new fighter jet is expected to have multirole capabilities. Along with stealth, the fighter will be able to target both land and sea-based targets.
Japan’s Multi-role single engine aircraft F-2 was already produced by MHI and Lockheed Martin in a 60/40 split in manufacturing between Japan and the US. F-2 was developed in the mid-1980s and produced in the 1990s and it was based on one of America’s most successful fighters — F-16 Fighting Falcon.
According to Lockheed Martin, F-2 is capable of both air-to-air and air-to-surface roles though it is optimized for the latter role, to protect Japan’s sea lanes. Many of the aircraft’s innovative systems, including the fly-by-wire flight control system and integrated electronic warfare system, were developed in Japan. The F-2 was also the first production fighter to be equipped with an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar.
After successfully serving for decades, the F-2 is set to be succeeded by a new fighter by 2035, manufactured by the same American and Japanese partnership.