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Japan targets T-4 replacement ahead of GCAP as pressure mounts to modernise pilot training

6th June 2025 - 10:10 GMT | by Gordon Arthur in Chiba, Japan

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The JASDF is looking for a replacement platform for its T-4 jet trainer fleet of more than 200 aircraft. (Photo: Jerry Gunner/Wikimedia Commons)

The JASDF has been looking to replace its T-4 jet fighters amid concerns over training capacity and pilot readiness for fifth-gen fighters.

When issuing a request for information last October, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) got the ball rolling on finding a replacement platform for its aging Kawasaki T-4 intermediate jet trainers. After deadline extensions, the tender process closed on 8 May.

The JASDF possesses more than 200 domestically built T-4 jet trainers that were introduced from 1988 onwards, but the range of options for replacing them is relatively narrow.

With Japan’s air force now flying fifth-generation F-35A and F-35B fighters, and with Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) fighters on the way a decade later, the ageing T-4 is wholly

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