Melbourne: The first of Japan’s Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) Lockheed-Martin F-35B Lightning II fifth-generation fighters will arrive from the United States in early August, according to the country’s defence ministry.
The Ministry of Defence’s Kyushu Defence Bureau, which is responsible for the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands where the F-35Bs will be based, made the announcement late last week, adding that four F-35Bs will arrive at Nyutabaru Airbase on August 7.
The planes will be flown into Nyutabaru by American pilots, who will also conduct a demonstration flight over the base in September to assuage the concerns of residents about aircraft noise, particularly during vertical landings.
Japan had previously announced that eight F-35Bs will be delivered to Nyutabaru during fiscal 2025, which ends on March 31, 2026. The jets will be assigned to the JASDF’s Temporary F-35B Unit, which has been set up to handle the transition and beddown of the initial batches of the jets.
The US ally currently has the largest number of F-35s on order outside of the United States, with plans for 157 jets split into 105 F-35A Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft and 42 F-35Bs.
Tokyo has begun transitioning the third JASDF squadron to the F-35A in April. The CTOL jets are currently being assembled locally at the Mistubishi Heavy Industries’ Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility in Nagoya.
The JASDF’s F-35Bs will be used to equip the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force helicopter-destroyers Izumo and Kaga, which are being retrofitted to operate the advanced jets.
Japan is constructing a new airbase at Mageshima, an island 160 km (100 miles) south Nyutabaru, that will have infrastructure to enable F-35Bs to conduct vertical landings, including training for shipboard operations. It would also have meant that the JASDF would not need to carry out vertical landing at their home base.
However, the original 2027 opening date for Mageshima has now slipped to sometime in 2029 or 2030, the MoD said, meaning that the JASDF will need to conduct routine vertical landing training at Nyutabaru until the new base opens. That has reportedly dismayed residents wary about increased aircraft noise.
Japan anticipates having 40 F-35Bs in its inventory by the time Mageshima is ready to handle aircraft operations, with the ministry’s own figures forecasting 100 vertical landings will take place at Nyutabaru per month in 2029, with 40 of these night vertical landings.
