Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
As a Japanese weapon, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2 fighter was built in Japan—and only for Japan. In 2011 the government, taking delivery of the last of 94 F-2s, looked at how much it would cost to build more. The answer: ¥15 billion ($193 million) apiece, more than the marginal price that any country has paid for any fighter from a mature production line.
BEIJING — The Japanese defense ministry says the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning’s performance beat that of the other two contenders in the competition for Japan’s F-X fighter requirement. The ministry says the F-35A also was the cheapest, because the competing Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet would have needed modification for flying-boom inflight refueling.
Bradley Perrett (Canberra, Australia), Amy Butler (Washington), Guy Norris (Los Angeles)
In English-speaking countries, people like to keep up with the Joneses. For South Korean defense ministry officials, it is important to keep up with the Tanakas. That is one reason why Japan's expected order for the Lockheed Martin F-35 is likely to result in sales of more than the 42 fighters that industry officials anticipated Tokyo would buy. Another is that the aircraft chosen for Japan's fighter program for this decade may well be built throughout the 2020s, long after the initial requirement is filled.
