The HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group will link up with the Japanese task group of the JS Kaga to practice combined F-35B operations.
The UK’s Royal Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) will again cooperate to help prepare the latter for the introduction of the F-35B Lightning II STOVL (Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing) variant of the jet. The HMS Prince of Wales will meet with the JS Kaga to “practice combined F-35 operations,” the Royal Navy announced on Jul. 29, 2025.
While not stated explicitly, British F-35Bs are likely to operate off the Izumo-class JS Kaga, conducting cross-deck landings and take-offs from the Japanese ship. The JS Kaga finished modification in early-2024 from an amphibious assault helicopter ship to a ‘Lightning carrier’. The JS Izumo, the lead ship of the class, is currently undergoing the same modification, expected to conclude by 2028.
The activity comes close on the heels of the first three of Japan’s 42 F-35Bs spotted arriving at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam on Aug. 1, 2025 during the ferry flight. The jets are scheduled to arrive at Nyutabaru Air Base by Aug. 7, and will be assigned to a temporarily established F-35B unit. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) already operates the CTOL (Conventional Take-Off and Landing) F-35A variant, and will soon operate also the B variant.
An F-35B Lightning II aircraft, flown by a test pilot from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), lands aboard Japan’s Izumo-class multi-functional destroyer JS Kaga (DDH-184) for the first time Oct. 20, 2024, off the southern coast of California. pic.twitter.com/nkDD199mTW
— 58th TFS (@58thTFS) October 21, 2024
The Royal Navy’s announcement about the impending F-35B operations off the JS Kaga arrived as the service wrapped up its participation in Exercise Talisman Sabre 25. Held off the waters off Australia’s Northern Territory, the exercise was part of the Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG25) deployment, designated Operation Highmast, which also saw the HMS Prince of Wales hosting F-35Bs from the U.S. Marine Corps’s Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 “Bats” (VMFA-242) on Jul. 8, 2025.
Japanese preparations for the F-35B
The JMSDF’s first major event with the F-35B took place on Oct. 20, 2024, when a specially instrumented Lightning II from the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23) landed on the JS Kaga off the coast of southern California. Along with the F-35B from the VX-23, a team from the F-35 Pax ITF (Pax River Integrated Test Force) also embarked on the ship in San Diego to support the testing, similar to the trials on the British and Italian carriers.
F-35Bが現地時間10月20日15時ごろ、初の着艦に成功！！🛩⚓ @USNavy @USMC
矩形の飛行甲板となった護衛艦「#かが」は #F35B の艦上運用に必要な諸元を収集するため、🇺🇸サンディエゴ沖にて米海軍及び米海兵隊の支援を得て所要の試験を実施中です！#自由で開かれたインド太平洋 pic.twitter.com/ar7tVYhSEc
— 防衛省 海上自衛隊 (@JMSDF_PAO) October 21, 2024
JMSDF officials previously visited the RN’s HMS Prince of Wales in Nov. 2023 to study the F-35B’s executing short take-offs and vertical landings. According to the Royal Navy, this happened when the British carrier was conducting the “third phase of complex trials” with the jet in what it termed as “Development Test 3” to extend operating limits, sortie rates and testing payloads. Phases one and two were carried aboard the sister vessel HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Beside the technical, tactical, logistical, operational aspects of fifth-generation carrier aircraft’s deck operations, the five-member JMSDF delegation led by Captain Sato Tsuyoshi, the Izumo-class special modification programme lead, “were shown every aspect of life aboard Prince of Wales off the Eastern Seaboard.” This was followed by JMSDF officials visiting the Italian Navy’s ITS Cavour aircraft carrier late in Aug. 2024 again to study F-35B operations, when the warship was at Yokosuka Naval Base during its Indo-Pacific campaign. The Italians also achieved Initial Operational Capability of their F-35B fleet at that time.
As touched upon in previous reports by The Aviationist, similarly to the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy (RN), the two Italian services jointly train, operate and maintain their F-35B fleets, to simplify logistics and maintenance. The trilateral Italian, British and Japanese cooperation is also an expanded part of the much focused and high-end tri-national sixth generation GCAP (Global Combat Air Programme).
HMS Prince of Wales
The Royal Navy’s announcement about the impending F-35B operations with the JS Kaga arrived as the service wrapped up its participation in Exercise Talisman Sabre 25. Held off the waters off Australia’s Northern Territory, the exercise was part of the Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG25) deployment, designated Operation Highmast, during which HMS Prince of Wales also hosted F-35Bs from the U.S. Marine Corps’s Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 “Bats” (VMFA-242) on Jul. 8, 2025.
The Royal Navy added that the carrier had left the northern Australian port of Darwin and was en route to Japan, in what would be the most militarily and strategically significant leg of its deployment in the Indo-Pacific. Open source warship trackers on X captured the British carrier sailing into Darwin on Jul. 23, 2025.
Amid consistently elevated tensions with the PRC (People’s Republic of China), the U.K., the United States, Japan, Italy and South Korea and France are a part of the broader Western alliance facing China, Russia and North Korea, who have closed ranks off-late.
HMS Prince of Wales (R09) Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier coming into Darwin, Australia – July 23, 2025
SRC: FB- Royal Navy pic.twitter.com/0liyxSgKO6
— WarshipCam (@WarshipCam) July 23, 2025
“Both nations operate the same short take-off/vertical landing version of the stealth jet, the B variant, although Japan has not flown the fifth-generation strike fighter for quite as long as the UK,” said the Royal Navy’s press release. “The two allies will work together at sea for a week, before the UK task group splits: some will head to South Korea, others, including HMS Prince of Wales, will make for Japan.”
The Carrier Air Wing aboard the HMS Prince of Wales is composed of 24 F-35Bs, assigned to the RN 809 NAS (Naval Air Squadron) and RAF 617 Squadron. Similarly to the RAF, the JASDF would also operate the Japanese F-35Bs and fly them off the JMSDF’s JS Izumo and JS Kaga. Considering a planned F-35A inventory of 105 airframes, the total fleet of 147 F-35s would make it the second-largest Lightning II operator after the United States.
JS Kaga and JS Izumo
The Kaga and its sister ship, the JS Izumo, were undergoing modification and reconstruction to employ the F-35B, with the work on the Kaga commencing in Mar. 2022 at Hiroshima’s Kure shipyard. The JMSDF then released images after the rework on Apr. 6, 2024, showing a new rectangular flight deck replacing the original trapezoidal one.
The first special modification work on the destroyer ”KAGA” was completed as planned on March 29.
The JMSDF will continue to systematically carry out the necessary modifications to the “IZUMO” class destroyer in order to acquire the operational capability of the F-35B. pic.twitter.com/JTaLkjRWu5
— Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (@jmsdf_pao_eng) April 6, 2024
Other changes to the Kaga included applying heat-resistant material on its flight deck to tolerate the F-35B’s vectored thrust engine and new lights for nighttime operations.
3 OCT, the #JMSDF conducted verification of takeoff and landing of the USMC F-35B to JS #IZUMO.
The JMSDF continues to steadily carry out the necessary modifications to the IZUMO class to acquire the capability to operate the F-35Bs. pic.twitter.com/0gtPNzrxQC
— Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (@jmsdf_pao_eng) October 5, 2021
The Izumo underwent the first phase of modifications in 2021, with its flight deck coated with heat-resistant paint, and later saw the first landing of a F-35B in cooperation with the U.S. Marine Corps. The reconstruction’s second phase is expected to commence by late this year or early-2025. The ship would also receive internal compartments and infrastructure to support F-35B operations, including magazines storing the jet’s munitions.
