Huge Multi-Billion Japanese F-35 Buy Changes Power Scale in Pacific

Video Above: Air War 2050: 5th & 6th Gen Stealth Fighter Attacks to Continue

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) Japan’s massive, multi-billion F-35 acquisition seems to be a development of enormous consequence when it comes to the question of deterring China or destroying any kind of fast-evolving People’s Liberation Army Navy attack on Taiwan.

The large Japanese buy, put in place earlier this year, will place large numbers of F-35Bs and F-35As within striking range of waters near Taiwan. These aircraft, particularly when combined with or networked to forward positioned US F-35s launching from amphibs or carriers, could “mass” a 5th-generation force of great consequence in the event of an attempted Chinese takeover.

Video Above: Air War 2050: 5th & 6th Gen Stealth Fighter Attacks to Continue

Indeed 5th-generation aircraft may be the best deterrent when it comes to China, given that F-35s from any country are engineered to quickly integrate with F-35s from another in a seamless, secure and interoperable way through the aircraft’s Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL). Large numbers of available Japanese F-35s, therefore, could instantly operate in several key respects as though they were part of a US force in the air.