Japan is interested in procuring at least 20 additional ready-to-fly F-35A stealth fighter jets from U.S. military aircraft maker Lockheed Martin over the next six years, according to three sources familiar with the Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) acquisition plans. “In view of budgets and production schedules a new acquisition of around 25 planes is appropriate,” one of the sources told Reuters on February 20. As of now, Japan has budgeted the induction of 42 F-35As. In January, the Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF)deployed its first F-35A at Misawa Air Base in the northernmost part of Honshu. While the first batch of four F-35As were all built in the United States, the remaining 38 F-35A aircraft are currently being assembled at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) F-35 Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility in Nagoya. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) has deployed its first F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant of the aircraft, at Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture in the northernmost part of Honshu on January 26, Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced last week. The aircraft constitutes the nucleus of the JASDF’s first operational F-35A squadron with the remaining nine aircraft to be deployed by the end of fiscal year 2018. “The deployment of the high-performance F-35 aircraft is significant for Japan’s security at a time when neighboring countries have been quickly building up their Air Force capabilities in recent years,” Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters on January 26. The deployment takes place in the face of North Korea’s growing military capabilities and aggressive posturing on the Korean Peninsula. 

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..

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