Japan To Purchase 150 F-35s

The Air Self-Defense Force’s F-35A fighter jet is shown at Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture in February. Pool photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun

Business Insider: Japan is loading up on F-35s for an aircraft carrier meant to check China

* Japan plans to purchase 147 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, Keitaro Ohno, parliamentary vice minister of defense for Japan's ruling party, revealed Wednesday.
* 107 F-35As will replace an aging fleet of F-4 and F-15 fighters, and 40 B variants are expected to serve aboard refitted Izumo-class destroyers.
* The focus, according to Ohno, is responding to China in the Pacific.

Japan is apparently considering tripling its original F-35 order "to respond to China in the Pacific," a senior defense official in the Japanese parliament revealed Wednesday.

Japan plans to purchase as many as 147 F-35s to replace Japan's aging fleet of F-4 and F-15 fighters, as well as significantly enhance the combat capabilities of Japan's maritime forces, Keitaro Ohno, parliamentary vice minister of defense for Japan's ruling party, explained Wednesday, confirming rumors

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