Defense News
12/14/2011
No Clear Signal
Yet From Japan on F-35 Selection
By WENDELL MINNICK, DAVE MAJUMDAR and
PAUL KALLENDER-UMEZU
TAIPEI, WASHINGTON
and TOKYO - The F-35 could see its wings emblazoned with the red sun roundel,
if Japanese media reports are correct.
The Lockheed Martin
Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has been in competition with the Boeing F/A-18 Super
Hornet and Eurofighter Typhoon for the Japanese F-X program for several years.
The F-X will replace Mitsubishi F-4EJ Kai Phantoms, due to begin retirement in
2015.
Japan plans to
purchase between 40 and 50 fighters for roughly $10 billion. Tokyo is also
considering replacing F-15Js within the next 10 years, increasing the number of
F-X fighters to 150.
However, both the
Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the U.S. Pentagon's Joint Program Office
are denying any final decision has been made. Boeing discounted the reports,
holding out hope the Japanese government will continue to work with the
company, as it has with the F-15J.
"We've seen the
speculation on the JSF winning but won't comment on that aspect," said
Lorenzo Cortes, international communications, Boeing Defense, Space &
Security. "The Japanese government could best respond to what's going on.
We are expecting a formal announcement as early as this week, but ultimately,
it's Japan's discretion as to when they want to do that."
The MoD has
repeatedly said they "were unable to confirm neither decision in favor of
the F-35 nor the public release of the announcement for Dec. 16," an MoD
spokesman said. "Nothing has been decided on the selection, and we can't
confirm when the decision will be announced."
Richard Aboulafia, an
analyst with the Teal Group, Fairfax, Va., said that if true, Japan's selection
of the F-35 is a "very strong endorsement from a respected service."
The F-35 has been under attack in the U.S. Congress and media due to a variety
of production and program problems.
"Despite all the
doubts, they still see the F-35s capabilities and technology as the
future," he said. "It's the first new customer outside the original
partner nations."
Despite the Japanese
endorsement for the F-35, there will be challenges finding a role for Japan's
indigenous aviation industry, which is facing layoffs and reduced production
with the end of the Mitsubishi F-2 fighter, the country's only active fighter
line, scheduled to close soon.
"No licensed
production will be tantamount to disaster," a Japanese defense industry
source said. "We have excellent engineers, and a generation of skills will
be lost."
A U.S. defense
industry source in Tokyo said the F-35 program is a "complex multinational
program that will take some negotiation to carve out a Japanese aviation
industry role."
Part of the
problem is the limited number of F-X fighters, 40 to 50, which "means
investment would be quite high, so question is, does this position the F-35 to
fulfill the F-XX/F-15J replacement program?"
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