IHT/Asahi,
The Defense Agency has abandoned plans to develop its own fighter jets and will instead select foreign aircraft to replace the aging squadron of F-4s from next fiscal year, sources said.
The agency has already narrowed down the candidates to six from the United States and Europe, the sources said.
The agency had planned to develop domestic fighters based on the Japanese F-2, but a flaw in its radar system scrapped that idea.
The decision to buy foreign replacements has raised concerns that Japan's know-how in the field will suffer, given that the agency does not plan to introduce new fighters anytime soon.
“We have to think how we can maintain our Japanese fighter jet technology,” a senior Defense Agency official said.
The Air Self-Defense Force currently has four fighter jets–F-15 and F-4 interceptors, plus F-2 and F-1 fighters for air-to-ship and air-to-ground attacks.The ASDF introduced the
F-4s in 1973, and currently deploys 91 of them at the Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture, Nyutabaru base in Miyazaki Prefecture, and Naha base in Okinawa Prefecture.
Decommissioning of the F-4s will begin in the mid-2010s. In an initial stage, the agency plans to introduce seven fighter jets to replace F-4s by fiscal 2009, the final year of its midterm defense buildup program.
The replacements for the F-4s will likely come from the United States, the officials said.
The U.S. candidates include the highly advanced FA-22 and F-35, the F-15E, a remodeled F-15 capable of air-to-ground attacks, and the FA-18 used by the U.S. Marines.
The Defense Agency will also consider the Euro-Fighter, a jointly developed jet by European nations, the sources said.
The agency will include the planned expense for the selection process in its budget request for the next fiscal year.
A Defense Agency official says there is no time to develop a new aircraft to replace the F-4s based on F-2 technology.
The F-2 project started in 1989 in a joint development plan between Japan and the United States. Japan developed the computer software and the main wings for the project.(
