Kosuke Takahashi JDW Correspondent
Tokyo
Tokyo
Gareth Jennings Jane's Aviation Desk Editor
London
London
Japan has officially selected the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as its next-generation mainstay fighter aircraft.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) aims to deploy four F-35s by Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16), with plans to eventually acquire 42 aircraft, officials said. The total cost over 20 years, including purchasing, maintenance and repairs, is estimated at JPY1.6 trillion (USD20.5 billion), making it Japan's most expensive fighter procurement and one of the largest military contracts of 2011.
"We have focused most on performance criteria," Defence Minister Yasuo Ichikawa told reporters in Tokyo after a Security Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
"The security environment surrounding fighter aircraft is transforming. We wanted to choose an aircraft that is able to respond to these changes," Ichikawa said about the decision, which was confirmed on 20 December.
The F-35 overcame competition from the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Block II and the Eurofighter Typhoon after scoring highest according to four criteria: the performance of the aircraft and its weapons, price, local industrial participation, plus repairs and after-sales maintenance. The MoD's definition of performance criteria included stealth capability, kinematic performance and information-processing capabilities.
The MoD added that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, IHI Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric would manufacture about 40 per cent of the F-35, with involvement in about 300 components.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will manufacture parts of the airframe, IHI will assemble the engine and Mitsubishi Electric is engaged in electronics, the MoD said, adding that the US government and Lockheed Martin had also agreed to allow the three companies to manufacture and complete final assembly and checkout of the main wing, tail surface and aft fuselage.
Tokyo's desire for a stealth fighter is well known. It spent years lobbying - unsuccessfully - for the US to sell it the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air-superiority fighter. The importance of stealth to Japan has been thrown into sharp focus by China and Russia's development of the Chengdu J-20 and Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA prototypes respectively.
The potential threat from these platforms was rammed home by MoD figures published in October showing that Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) intercepts of Chinese military aircraft entering national airspace had more than tripled to 83 from April to September. Japan also scrambled fighters 106 times against Russia - 43 times fewer than the same period in 2010 but still the most by nationality.
Lockheed Martin argues that the F-35 is the best platform to counter the emerging threat from Japan's much-larger neighbours.
"The F-35 has exceptional air-to-air capabilities based on its stealth, full-fighter aerodynamic performance, advanced sensors, sensor fusion and advanced datalinks," Lockheed Martin spokesman John Giese told Jane's . "US government analytical models show that, when flying against an advanced-threat aircraft, the F-35 is six times better than fourth-generation F-16, F/A-18 and Eurofighter aircraft."
Giese said that in terms of its modelled loss exchange ratio (LER), which measures effectiveness by dividing the number of enemy aircraft destroyed by the number of friendly aircraft destroyed, "the F-35 is six times better than fourth-generation aircraft."
Military analyst Toshiyuki Shikata told Jane's that, regardless of performance, the MoD had to choose a US platform. "Japan had no choice but to buy US aircraft if you consider the importance of interoperability with US military equipment and systems. This excludes the Eurofighter, while the stealth capabilities of the Super Hornet are weaker than those of the F-35."
| ANALYSIS |
| Japan's decision to buy the F-35 comes as something of a surprise to many as, of all the contenders, it seems the most unlikely fit for the country's performance or timetable requirements. With the Japanese looking to procure an air-superiority fighter to replace its ageing Mitsubishi/McDonnell Douglas F-4EJ Phantom IIs, many have suggested that the emphasis on interdiction and strike in the F-35's design may adversely affect its air-to-air capability. Whereas the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Eurofighter Typhoon were both developed to be fighters first and bombers second (particularly so with the Typhoon), the opposite is true for the F-35. It has been proven in the past that, while it is possible to make a bomber out of a fighter (the F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle and F/A-18 Hornet being prime examples), the opposite does not hold true (the fighter variant of the Panavia Tornado did not acquit itself in the same manner as did the original strike variant). For its part, Lockheed Martin dismisses such concerns, telling Jane's that the F-35 "was designed and built to counter the most advanced airborne and ground-based threats - exactly the air-defence environment that Japan faces today and in the future. The F-35 has exceptional air-to-air capabilities based on its stealth, full-fighter aerodynamic performance, advanced sensors, sensor fusion and advanced datalinks". This may be true, but all of the attributes listed above, with the exception of "full-fighter aerodynamic performance", are primarily of importance in the beyond-visual-range (BVR) environment. This BVR environment is not normally encountered outside a full-scale war as pilots are usually required to visually identify potential targets before engaging them. While Lockheed Martin talks up the aircraft's aerodynamic performance, it has been noted that the F-35's relatively small wing area will translate into high wing loadings during a turning dogfight. Such loadings are not good in an air-to-air combat scenario as they severely limit manoeuvrability. As such, questions have been raised over the F-35's ability to match the manoeuvrability of Chinese types such as the J-10 and J-11 during close-in aerial combat. As for the programme's schedule, Japan has said it wants to field the winning fighter by Fiscal Year 2016 (calendar year 2016/17). Lockheed Martin is confident it can meet this deadline, but it has to be noted that the F-35's primary customer, the US Air Force, has already said that delays have meant its 2016 initial-operational-capability (IOC) date is no longer viable. So while Lockheed Martin may be able to deliver aircraft by 2016, it is doubtful whether Japan will be able to begin operating them at that point. With these issues in mind, it has to be asked why Japan has opted to procure the yet-to-be-fielded F-35 over its in-service battle-tested competitors. Over recent years Japan has made no secret of its desire to procure the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor but was continually rebuffed by the US government. Of the F-22's many attributes, it was its low observability that made it so alluring to Japan. While both the Typhoon and the Super Hornet do have stealthy characteristics, the F-35 has been largely marketed on the back of its covert capabilities. Japan is currently in the early stages of developing its own indigenous ATD-X stealth fighter, so any expertise that can be gained from industrial participation in F-35 production will certainly be welcome. In all likelihood it is this, coupled with Japan's long-standing political and industrial allegiance to the US, that secured F-X success for the F-35. |
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