Japan eyes fiercer fighter jets to counter China
August 21, 2016 3:05 am JST



TOKYO -- Japan's Defense Ministry is likely to request a budgetary allocation so the country's air force, which is responding more frequently to Chinese provocations,can load more missiles on its F-15 fighter jets, sources said.

The ministry wants to double the number of air-to-air missiles to be loaded on the mainstay jets, operated by the Air Self-Defense Force. It also plans to lengthen the jets' lifespans.

The ministry would like the money to be allocated in the budget for the fiscal year beginning in April.

There has been a surge in the number of Chinese warplanes as well as increased Chinese provocations in waters around the Senkaku Islands, in the southernmost Japanese prefecture of Okinawa. China also claims the islands, calling them the Diaoyu.

The ministry appears to want to counter China's moves by both souping up existing jets and introducing next-generation fighters.

The ASDF owns 200 F-15s, fourth-generation fighter jets made by Boeing, the U.S. aerospace and defense company.

The ministry plans to double the number of missiles each jet can carry to 16. It also plans to repair damaged wings and other parts to extend operating life.

The ASDF has been scrambling jets more often in response to Chinese maneuvers. It did so 199 times from April through June, a 75% increase from the same period last year.

Recently, Chinese jets have been flying further south, near the contested islands. "As the cruising range of Chinese military aircraft has gotten longer, they are coming ever closer to our territories," a Japanese Defense Ministry official said.

In January, the ASDF transferred its squadron at the Tsuiki air base in Fukuoka Prefecture, southern Japan, to a base in Naha, Okinawa, nearly doubling the number of F-15s there to 40. Were China to send a big squadron into Japanese airspace, Tokyo would need to respond with both quality and quantity.

At the end of fiscal 2017, the ASDF is to deploy fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters that are hard to detect by radar. But the first F-35s will be deployed at the Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture, at the northern tip of Japan's main island. The U.S. Air Force shares the base, and the ASDF plans to first work on joint pilot training and maintenance cooperation with the U.S. before putting the jets in operation in tenser areas.

(Nikkei)

http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Econ...r-China?page=1

Japan Bolsters the Lethality of its F-15 Fighter Jets Amid Tensions With China
22.08.2016




As Japan prepares to officially announce its record-high $51.7 billion military budget proposal, it seeks to double the payload of its 200 F-15 jet fighters in an attempt to cool down Chinese military presence near southern Japanese islands.

Japanese military budget for fiscal year 2017, which will end in March 2018, includes a number of costly measures aimed to significantly bolster Japanese military amid rising tensions in South China Sea in particular and in the region in general.

Among other things, Japan seeks to boost weapon capacity of their 200 US-made F-15 jet fighters, by doubling the amount of air-to-air missiles they carry, from 8 to 16 per plane.

The Japanese Air Self Defense Force (ASDF) is also going to extend the planes' lifespan by starting a massive repair program for damaged planes.

The proposed military program, which will be officially introduced later this month, reportedly includes the purchase of an undisclosed number of controversial Lockheed Martin F-35 jet fighters and development of unmanned drone fighter jet, which is set to be put in operation by year 2037.

The massive increase in military appropriations out of Tokyo may be warranted in response to Beijing's growing animosity towards its longstanding regional rival including recent air contact between Chinese and Japanese warplanes over the East China Sea.

The two countries are embroiled in a territorial dispute regarding the Senkaku (known by China as Diaoyu) Islands with both China and Japan holding overlapping claims. The West recognizes Japan's control of the Senkaku Islands, a reality that may be increasingly unfavorable to China in light of the international pressure mounted on Beijing over the separate territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

Japan has inflamed historical tensions by beckoning China to give up its claim to the South China Sea, which includes islands and a valuable swath of water through which 40% of the world's shipborne trade transits each day, despite the fact that Tokyo itself is not a party to that dispute. China has repeatedly warned of war against Japan if it should undertake joint naval operations with the US in the contested area.

http://sputniknews.com/asia/20160822...ets-china.html