Japan looking at Growler for A2AD strategy

According to Japanese sources, the Japanese government is examining the EA-18 Growler as one option for their Anti-Access/Area Denial plans. Japan needs an Electronic Warfare aircraft to act as escort and perform SEAD missions. The government plans to put in a formal request on the Growlers by the end of the year, with procurement to take place starting in 2019-2023.

They are also buying JASSM-ER, and exploring the option of adding a ground attack role to the F-15J. The JASSM would be added to the F-15 to give it a stand off attack capability, while the Growler would fly stand off jamming and escort for them. Japan is in the process of giving their military a preemptive strike capability, and is buying KC-46s to augment their KC-767 tankers. That will give them a total of 8 tankers. They're also buying E-2Ds to augment their E-767 fleet.

According to the Nikkei, Tokyo is taking a look at getting electronic-warfare (EW) aircraft and Boeing’s EA-18G Growler is one of the options being explored.

The news outlet says the Defense Ministry plans to officially put in a request to buy these specialized aircraft in the Mid-Term Defense Program at the end of the year. Once approved, the acquisition will take place between 2019 to 2023.

The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the combat-proven F/A-18F Super Hornet and flies the airborne electronic attack mission. Thanks to its array of sensors and weapons, the aircraft is able to perform a wide range of missions such as Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), Stand-off and Escort Jamming (where the Growler not only fly the traditional stand-off jamming mission but also provides the escort for other air assets thanks to the speed and agility inherited form the Super Hornet), Non-Traditional Electronic Attack (where thanks to its enhanced situational awareness the EA-18G achieves an unmatched degree of integration with ground operations) and Self-protection and Time-Critical Strike Support (where thanks to its Advanced Electronically Scanned Array [AESA] radar, digital data links and air-to-air missiles, the EA-18G has self-protection capability and is also highly effective for target identification and prosecution).

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a reply to: Zaphod58

As a side note, it looks like the Japanese may shelve their indigenous stealth fighter.

a reply to: anzha

There was always talk that they would go with a "pre-made" option from someone else.

They have probably looked at the Australian purchase and realised that if the RAAF can do it and for the budget it took then they can too. It also helps that the ALQ-99 is to be progressively replaced and it will be engineered to fit on the EA-18G so its future proofed.

Not sure I would write off the Japanese effort to produce a 5/6th Gen though, Pyongyang and Beijing are making Tokyo very nervous. It could be part of a multi faceted strategy to boost their own capability as well as stir Washington to open access to other goodies.

Always good news when one of our allies is gearing up. That's less we have to cover if the SHTF.

This seems like a good fit for them. If national defense is the primary mission, it's a perfect platform.

Disappointed..I had high hopes Japan could pull something off with its Stealth platform..

a reply to: Blackfinger

They'll keep working on that or a similar project on some level to subsidize their aerospace industry and keep it relevant.

Same reason they spent billions to co-develop essentially a homegrown AGILE Falcon they could have bought for half the price direct from Lockheed.

They got on the F-35 train when they were able to get part of the global workload for their industry, but they might homebuild another in limited numbers. Probably shift goals to a less capable (cheaper), but still very relevant fighter. Maybe a pure interceptor.