Japan is the largest F-35 operator after the United States, and its program of record calls for it to receive 105 F-35A models and 42 F-35Bs.
After a delay that was announced in January, Lockheed Martin will complete the delivery of the first F-35B Lightning II aircraft in August to the Japanese military, the nation’s Ministry of Defense has confirmed. Four of the short takeoff vertical landing (STVOL) multirole fighters will arrive at Nyutabaru Airbase on the southern home island of Kyushu as early as August 7.
According to a report from Breaking Defense, the F-35s will be flown to Japan by American pilots, “who will also conduct a demonstration flight over the base in September.” The upcoming flight will be conducted to “assuage the concerns” of locals about the noise from the multirole stealth fighter, notably during its vertical landing.
The F-35B, with its unique engine configuration including the thrust vectoring nozzle, generates far more noise than the other variants, leading to residential concerns near US and Japanese military bases.
The F-35 Lightning II Is Big in Japan
Japan already operates more than 40 Lockheed Martin F-35A fifth-generation stealth fighters. It received the latest batch of three of the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variants in May. Those three aircraft, which were outfitted with the Technology Refresh-3 (TR-3) avionics hardware/software upgrade, were flown from the United States and landed at Komatsu Air Base in Ishikawa.
“The security environment around the Indo-Pacific is becoming more dynamic and unstable, and the significant refinement and enhancement of our air power is an urgent requirement for Japan,” JASDF F-35 Program liaison officer Lieutenant Colonel Ogino Masaki told The Defense Post when the F-35A aircraft arrived in May.
Japan is the largest F-35 operator after the United States, and its program of record calls for it to receive 105 F-35A models and 42 F-35Bs. A third F-35A squadron is currently being created.
While the F-35Bs were flown in from the United States, future F-35As will be assembled at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility in Nagoya. That factory delivered the first Lightning II in June 2017.
Japan is on track to receive eight F-35Bs by the end of its fiscal year 2025 on March 31, 2026. The Japanese Self Defense Force (JASDF) has already set up a “Temporary F-35B Unit” to “handle the transition and beddown of the initial batches” of the aircraft, Breaking Defense explained.
The F-35B will eventually be embarked on the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (JMSDF’s) two Izumo-class multipurpose helicopter-destroyers that have been converted to operate with the STOVL fighters, essentially allowing the warships to serve as Japan’s first aircraft carriers since the Second World War.
In addition, the JSDF is constructing a new airbase on Mageshima, an island located approximately 100 miles south of Nyutabaru. The airbase will be employed for vertical landing training of the F-35B. However, construction on that facility has been delayed, and it will not become operational until at least 2029 or early 2030.
F-35B Noise Concerns Grow Louder in Japan
In the meantime, F-35B STOVL training will be carried out at Nyutabaru, with as many as 100 vertical landings carried out monthly, including 40 at night. That has led to concerns over noise levels around the base.
Each landing is expected to last around three minutes. These landings produce around 110 decibels, roughly the noise of a chainsaw or leaf blower, at 300 meters—and upwards of 130 decibels from 75 meters.
The upcoming flight demonstration aims to reassure residents that the noise disruption will be minimal.
“Through the flight demonstration, we will give local residents the opportunity to experience the noise characteristics of the F-35B first hand, and then the MOD will explain the results of its review to the local community,” the JSDF said in a statement, per USNI News.
No additional F-35B training is expected to be carried out until the review is concluded.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a thirty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
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