Mitsubishi F-2

Several factors drove the cost. The indigenous Japanese components — composite wing, J/APG radar, ASM-1/2 anti-ship missiles, Japanese avionics — were developed at low production volumes (98 airframes), so non-recurring engineering was amortised across very few units. The U.S. also forced co-production with Lockheed Martin and required release of certain F-16 source code in exchange for U.S.-provided technology, which raised programme-management overhead. On top of that, 1990s yen-dollar movements were unfavourable for imports of U.S. components. Per-unit flyaway cost ran to roughly $130 million in late-1990s dollars — about three times an equivalent Block 50 F-16C.

The J/APG-1, fielded with the F-2 in 2000, was the first AESA radar in front-line fighter service anywhere in the world — beating both the U.S. Navy's APG-79 (2007) and the F-22's APG-77 (also 2005). Mitsubishi Electric developed it indigenously. The U.S. did not adopt the J/APG-1 because the F-22, F-35, and F/A-18E/F programmes were each developing their own AESA radars in parallel, and Japanese export controls combined with U.S. preferences for domestic content prevented technology flow. The episode is often cited in U.S. defence-trade analyses as an example of how U.S. requirements for technology release in the 1980s FS-X dispute backfired by accelerating Japan's domestic radar industry (RAND on FS-X).

The ASM-2 (Type 93) is a Japanese-designed sub-sonic anti-ship missile, the air-launched derivative of the ground-launched Type 88 SSM. It carries a 500 lb shaped-charge warhead, has a launch range of around 105 mi, and uses imaging-infrared terminal guidance for fire-and-forget targeting in heavy ECM environments. An F-2 can carry four; pairing two F-2s yields a single mission salvo of eight ASM-2s — enough to overwhelm point defences on a typical surface-action group. The ASM-2 is not exported.

The 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami flooded Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi Prefecture, where the JASDF's 21st Squadron operated F-2Bs in the conversion-training role. Eighteen F-2Bs were submerged in seawater for several hours, contaminating airframes with salt corrosion and damaging avionics throughout. Initial assessment wrote off all 18; subsequent rebuild efforts at Mitsubishi Komaki South Plant restored six airframes to flight status by 2018 at heavy cost. The remaining 12 were declared write-offs. The fleet now stands at 80 airworthy airframes.

No, although that was the popular U.S. characterisation during the late-1980s FS-X dispute. The F-2 shares the F-16's general configuration (single engine, blended wing-body, frameless canopy) and uses the F110 engine along with a similar avionics architecture, but the wing, fuselage length, radar, EW suite, and weapons integration are all Japanese-developed. The U.S. estimate was that 25–35% of the F-2 by value is U.S. content (engine, ejection seat, some avionics components); the remainder is Japanese-developed under licence or indigenous.

The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) is a trilateral sixth-generation fighter development by the United Kingdom (BAE Systems), Italy (Leonardo), and Japan (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries / IHI). Formally announced in December 2022, GCAP merges the UK Tempest and Japanese F-X programmes. Service entry is targeted for 2035, replacing the F-2 in JASDF service and the Eurofighter Typhoon in RAF and AMI service. Programme HQ is in Reading, UK; design lead is shared among the three partner OEMs.

No. Japan's post-war constitution restricts the JASDF to defensive operations, and the F-2 has not been deployed outside Japanese airspace in any combat role. It has flown air-policing intercepts of Russian, Chinese, and North Korean aircraft probing Japanese airspace and territorial sea since the early 2000s — these remain the type's only wartime-equivalent flights and have all been resolved without weapons release.