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The East Asian nation is one of the biggest buyers of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter. However, the fighter jet that Washington boasts as the “most advanced” fighter in the world has major flaws, prompting Tokyo to accelerate its F-3 program.
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Another reason is that Japan faces a growing threat from China.
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) has strictly enforced its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), intercepting Chinese planes violating its airspace in recent times.
Last July, the US agreed to a deal to buy 105 F-35 fighter jets by Japan, including a combination of the F-35A and F-35B. The $23 billion deal will make Japan the F-35’s biggest foreign customer and second-largest operator — 147 stealth jets — after the US.
The US Air Force is the largest customer of Lockheed Martin’s F-35, accounting for 70 percent of the total 2,443 aircraft.
The F-35 program is also the most expensive weapons system in US military history. Japan, however, is concerned about some of the F-35’s limitations in terms of its weapons-carrying capacity.
According to Lockheed Martin, the fifth-generation F-35 is an ultra-low-detection stealth fighter, advanced sensors, information fusion, and network connectivity all packed into a supersonic, long-range and highly maneuverable fighter.
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