Only recently, a delegation from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force visited the Royal Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, to observe stealth fighter trials off the USA. It marked a full-circle moment nearly 82 years after Japanese aircraft famously sank the previous Royal Navy HMS Prince of Wales battleship during World War II, thus really bringing an end to the era of the big gun battleship.
The JMSDF is currently modifying its Izumo-class helicopter carriers to embark on the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, the same aircraft already in service with the UK’s two carriers. Captain Sato Tsuyoshi, in charge of the Izumo-class special modification program, and five colleagues spent a fortnight aboard HMS Prince of Wales, witnessing every aspect of life and operations with the F-35B.
“It’s been an exciting study on board, seeing fixed wing operations as well as the traditions of the Royal Navy,” said Sato. “The team have been so welcoming and without your support our study into operating F35-B for the Japanese Self-Defence Forces would not have been as successful.”
The two navies have forged an ever-closer relationship over the last decade with visits by Royal Navy vessels to Japan on the rise, including the flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth on her 2021 maiden deployment.
HMS Prince of Wales has been conducting the third phase of complex trials with the fifth-generation stealth fighters; this is the Development Test 3 (DT-3) phase, which includes expanding operating limits, increasing sortie rates, and testing payloads. DT-3 planning ran through many stages and was carried out by teams from the Patuxent River F-35 Integrated Test Force (PAX ITF) and the Royal Navy.
“Working relationships are professional, cordial, and cooperative,” said Royal Navy Lt. Cdr. Kevin Roffey, senior air engineer on HMS Prince of Wales. “AED and ITF are working together to achieve DT-3 goals.”
DT-3 has included several “firsts” for the Royal Navy’s carrier and the F-35, such as the first night shipborne rolling vertical landing, an alternate way to land the STOVL jet with additional weight. Recently, an F-35B also landed facing the stern, not the bow of the flight deck – a “back-to-front” maneuver intended to provide pilots and flight deck teams more options for safe emergency landings.