Boeing F-47 reportedly offered to Japanese government by Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump reportedly made a call to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, suggesting the “47” as a good number and asking the Japanese leader to agree with it.
As is well known, the “47” is not only a reference to Trump being the 47th president of the United States, but also to the Boeing F-47, a 6th generation fighter.
According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, the Japanese government is analyzing the conversation between Trump and Ishiba to determine the intentions of the US president.
It was reported that Trump had only asked for an opinion on American fighters and asked Ishiba, casually, if Japan would be interested in buying aircraft from the United States.
Trump had praised the F-22 and mentioned the F-55, a twin-engine version of the F-35 mentioned by him during a speech in Qatar.
Japan is a member of the 6th generation fighter program Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), which also has Italy and the United Kingdom as partners.
Chosen in March for the USAF’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, the F-47 is a superior aircraft air force and will replace the F-22 in this mission.
GCAP delays
There would be some concern in Tokyo about the GCAP schedule, since both European partners would not have such urgency in it.
Not having access to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which is not exported by the United States, Japan has to settle for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.
The country has already closed the purchase of 147 aircraft, 105 of which are F-35A and 42 of which are F-35B. However, six of the latter are delayed. So far, 43 have been delivered to the Japanese.
In Japan, there is already criticism regarding the delay in F-35 deliveries in view of the threat posed by China.
The country also needs to update its fleet of Boeing F-15s and Mitsubishi F-2s, and the arrival of all F-35s is urgent.
For now, Japan is really interested in acquiring more Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft III.
Even so, the possibility of the F-47 would bring the disadvantage of increasing dependence on the US, however, it is assumed that deliveries of the new fighter will be faster than those of the GCAP program, scheduled for mid-2030.
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