Japan has been cleared by the US State Department to buy 105 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters as part of a package worth an estimated $23.11 billion. The potential F-35 deal is the second largest foreign military sale approved by Washington in history, behind a $29.4 billion sale of Boeing F-15SA fighters and associated weapons to Saudi Arabia in 2010.
Tokyo requested 63 examples of the F-35A conventional take-off-and-landing variant and 42 examples of the F-35B short-take-off-and-vertical-landing variant (STVOL), the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency says as part of a notice delivered to the US Congress on 9 July.
Also, part of the sale are 110 Pratt and Whitney F135 engines, including five spare turbines...MORE
