(Asien) Japans Marine

[Schneemann]

Japan’s Largest Warship Launches U.S. Marine F-35s

First Fighters to Fly from Japanese Ship Since WWII

KUALA LUMPUR – Two Marine Corps F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters took off and landed on Japan’s largest warship, JS Izumo (DDH-183), on Oct.3, marking the first time that fixed-wing aircraft have operated off a Japanese warship since World War II.

The two F-35Bs from the “Bats” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 242 flew from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, to operate on Izumo to test modifications to the big deck warship so the short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) version of the F-35 can operate from the ship. [...] The Japanese Ministry of Defence in the past had downplayed the future operations of F-35s from Izumo and Kaga, saying the fighters would deploy on the ships when necessary due to the sensitivities over whether the capability would push Japan over the boundaries of its constitutional limitations on possessing offensive capabilities.

https://news.usni.org/2021/10/05/video-j...since-wwii

Ich fand diesen diplomatischen Zungenschlag wieder hervorragend - Flugzeugträger? Nein, natürlich nicht, diese Flugzeuge landen da ja nur, wenn es notwendig wäre...!

Schneemann