Japanese F-35s to make inaugural deployment to Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia — Japan will send its fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters overseas for the first time later this month to take part in exercises in northern Australia.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force, or JASDF, said in a release Monday that four Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters from the 3rd Air Wing at Misawa will undertake a two-week deployment.

According to the release, the deployment will see the jets take part in exercises flying via Andersen Air Force Base on the U.S. territory of Guam to Darwin and Tindal in Australia’s Northern Territory.

A JASDF Boeing KC-767 tanker, a Lockheed-Martin C-130 Hercules and two Kawasaki C-2 airlifters will support the F-35s for the exercises beginning Aug. 21 and concluding Sept. 2.

This will mark the first time Japan has sent its F-35s overseas for training and follows the deployment of five Mitsubishi F-2 fighters to Australia for the first time in 2022 when the JASDF took part in the multinational Pitch Black air combat exercise.

Royal Australian Air Force F-35As will deploy to Japan in early September for Exercise Bushido Guardian, a joint air combat training activity between the two countries, according to a joint announcement by Australia’s defense and foreign ministers.

Australia will also participate in Exercise Yama Sakura as a full participant for the first time with more than 150 personnel travelling to Japan in December for the land warfare exercise.

The announcement of the exercises comes as the Reciprocal Access Agreement, or RAA, between both countries comes into effect. The agreement provides the legal framework for greater cooperation between the defense forces of both countries.

This is the first visiting forces agreement Japan has struck with any country outside the United States and is expected to “streamline more effective force cooperation and enable each country to increase the sophistication and regularity of training, exercises and other cooperative activities,” according to the announcement.

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

澳大利亚墨尔本——本月晚些时候，日本将首次派遣其第五代F-35隐形战斗机出国，参加在澳大利亚北部举行的演习。

日本航空自卫队（JASDF）周一发布消息称，驻扎在三泽的第三航空联队的四架洛克希德·马丁F-35A“闪电II”联合攻击战斗机将进行为期两周的部署。

根据新闻稿，此次部署将使这些战机参加演习，途经美国关岛的安德森空军基地飞往澳大利亚北领地的达尔文和廷德尔。

一架日本航空自卫队波音KC-767加油机、一架洛克希德·马丁C-130大力神运输机和两架川崎C-2运输机将为F-35战机提供支援，演习将于8月21日开始，9月2日结束。

这将是日本首次将 F-35 战机派往海外进行训练，此前，日本航空自卫队于 2022 年首次向澳大利亚部署了五架三菱 F-2 战斗机，参加了多国联合的“漆黑行动”空中作战演习。

根据澳大利亚国防部长和外交部长联合发布的消息，澳大利亚皇家空军的F-35A战斗机将于9月初部署到日本，参加“武士道卫士”联合空中作战训练活动。

澳大利亚也将首次作为正式参与者参加“山樱”联合军事演习，12 月份将有 150 多名人员前往日本参加此次陆战演习。

此次联合演习的宣布正值两国之间的《互惠准入协议》（RAA）生效之际。该协议为两国国防部队加强合作提供了法律框架。

这是日本与美国以外的任何国家签署的第一份访问部队协议，根据公告，该协议有望“简化更有效的部队合作，并使各国能够提高训练、演习和其他合作活动的复杂性和规律性”。

Mike Yeo 是《防务新闻》的亚洲通讯员。