Japanese F-2 Jets Operate Over South China Sea With US B1-B Bombers, F-15s
Japanese and US attack aircraft are patrolling the South China Sea together as part of a visible effort to deter China
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By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
Japanese and US attack aircraft are patrolling the South China Sea together as part of a visible effort to deter China from weaponizing the islands to a greater extent or taking aggressive and provocative actions. The formation consisted of four US Air Force F-15s and a B1-B bomber, supported by a Japanese F-2 fighter jet.
A Bomber-fighter combination introduces a certain kind of integrated deterrence of as a high-speed F-2 could identify targets for a B1-B bomber in the event that an F-2 needs to engage air threats or operate over hostile territory. The most interesting question, it would seem, relates to the extent to which US and Japanese aircraft can network with one another in real time while airborne. True high-speed command and control between the different aircraft from different militaries would truly introduce paradigm-changing multi-national operational capacity. Should upgraded B1-B datalinks connect with the command and control or targeting technology in an F-2, then certainly the extent of deterrence possibilities and the ability to form extended formations is massively expanded.
US-Japanese Networked Attack & Surveillance
Should a formation of this kind be networked effectively, it would introduce a massive advantage in areas such as the South China Sea where targets or hostile activity is likely to be dispersed across large swaths of ocean. Islands spread across the highly disputed Spratly Island Chain are separated by vast bodies of ocean and may each contain high-value targets or adversary operations of interest to combined US and Japanese aircraft force.
The Mitsubishi Japanese F-2, based to some extent upon the General Dynamics F-16, can reach speeds of Mach 2 and travel ranges greater than 500 miles. Having first flown in 2015 and then entered service in 2000, the F-2 is reasonably modern compared with the F-15 and F-16 and travels with a full complement of air-to-ground and air-to-air weapons. The F-2 has a 25-percent larger wing area, composite materials to lower rate and an Active Electronically Scanned Array radar. Interestingly, the F-2 was one of the first fighter jets to receive an AESA radar, according to an Aviation Week essay from 2019, The F-2 was also joined by four F-15s, 1980s-era aircraft which have been substantially upgraded to become an entirely different, modern aircraft with new computing, radar, weapons and avionics.