Japan spends more than 40 billion USD to increase air force power

Japan will spend $40 billion to buy more than 100 aircraft in the coming time to maintain air superiority over China.

Shopping spree

Japan has just decided to spend 40 billion USD to equip fighter jets to maintain air superiority over China.

According to analysts, this move comes as Beijing is clearly showing its military expansion ambitions in the East Sea and the East China Sea.

A spokesman for Japan's Defense Ministry said Tokyo has been in contact with Japanese and foreign arms companies about the contract to buy more than 100 fighter jets. The F3 Fighter Plan aims to equip the Japanese military with the most modern fighter jets. This is one of Japan's most expensive military programs.

Japan must regularly dispatch fighter jets to deal with China.

According to the Japan Self-Defense Forces, between April and June 2016 alone, Japanese fighter jets scrambled 200 times, compared to 114 times in the same period last year, to intercept Chinese aircraft in the area around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.

According to the Japanese military, China sent ships into the area twice in June 2016 alone. On June 29, a former senior Japanese military official reported that a Japanese plane was nearly attacked by a Chinese fighter jet in the East China Sea. This news was later denied by the Japanese government.

Analyzing the aircraft procurement program, experts said that it is likely that American companies will win the contract due to the close Japan-US alliance. Two American corporations, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) are three of the key companies invited to participate in the project.

The Japanese-made X-2 stealth aircraft took off in April 2016.

Reuters reported that Boeing and Lockheed Martin both said they were very interested in Japan's F3 program and hoped to participate.

Under the F3 plan, the new aircraft would have to operate in coordination with the Lockheed-made F-35 aircraft that Tokyo has ordered, and the US-made F-15J aircraft, but modified by Japan.

Currently, the only aircraft that meets the requirements of the F3 program is the Lockheed Martin F-22 fighter jet. However, this aircraft is no longer in production, and the US has not allowed the export of this advanced fighter jet despite Japan's wishes.

According to Baodatviet