The Japanese Air Force is converting some of its 201 Boeing F-15J air superiority fighters into deep-strike fighter-bombers.
For Japan’s defensively oriented Air Self-Defense Force, the F-15 upgrade represents a new step toward a true offensive capability, aimed squarely at a competitive China.
On July 4, the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo signed off on a batch of 50 U. S. -made joint extended-range air-to-surface missiles, or JASSM-ER. The 575-mile land-attack cruise missiles are the new guns of the upgraded F-15Js.
The enhanced F-15Js, which also have improved radar jammers in addition to their new cruise missiles, represent what U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel described as “a new Japan emerging, a more competent Japan.”
Japan’s post-World War II statutes limited the country’s military to a strictly defensive role. But as authoritarian China has become more assertive in recent years—seizing disputed islands and clashing with neighboring countries—successive Japanese administrations have reinterpreted the charter to allow the military to attack in addition to protect themselves.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense buys weapons in this new constitutional order. Perhaps most notably, the branch has purchased an impressive 400 Tomahawk land-attack and anti-shipment missiles from the United States for $2. 4 billion. Each Tomahawk introduced via shipment extends up to 1,000 miles. keeping Chinese forces under threat in the Western Pacific region.
Consider the F-15Js and their JASSM-ERs as the first air component of Japan’s new offensive missile arsenal. The Japanese Air Force also plans to arm its 86 Mitsubishi F-2s and its long-term fleet of 157 Lockheed Martin F-35s with new long-range missiles.
However, the ultimate scale of Japan’s air modernization is still evolving. The Air Force has 201 F-15Js. One hundred and two of them take advantage of structural improvements that allow them to fly for decades. Ninety-nine of them have more fragile airframes and could be retired soon with the arrival of more new F-35s.
But Tokyo has pledged to spend $5. 6 billion to upgrade just 68 of the toughest F-15s to bring JASSM-ER. All of them are single-seat versions of the twin-engine supersonic fighter. There are also 34 two-seater F-15s with structural improvements. Defense officials are reportedly still contemplating modifying those aircraft as well.
If the Air Force upgrades two-seat F-15s, the resulting aircraft would be very similar to the U. S. Air Force’s F-15E fighter-bombers. They are all two-seat designs. A second team member provides the aircraft with more flexibility in complex strike missions.
The irony is that the US Air Force has asked lawmakers for permission to retire around a portion of the approximately two hundred F-15Es as a cost-saving measure, just as Japan is acquiring its own fighter jets. equivalents for the first time. time.
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