Japan Decides to Allow Women to Fly Fighter Jets

Tokyo, Nov. 13 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Defense Ministry said Friday it has decided to open the way for women to fly Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets and spy planes. "We need to change our organization into one in which able and highly motivated women can play the same responsible roles as their male counterparts," ASDF Chief of Staff Gen. Harukazu Saito told a news conference. The first such female pilots are expected to make their debuts in about three years. Japan's SDF, also including the Ground and Maritime SDF, has some 230,000 personnel across Japan, of whom 13,000, or 6 pct, are women. The ASDF began training women to become pilots for other planes in 1995. At present, women fly transportation and rescue planes. Meanwhile, the ASDF stopped short of allowing women to fly fighter jets or spy planes for reasons including the physical demands arising from strong gravitational forces during flights. The ministry looked at removing the restrictions on women's fighter and spy plane operations because it wanted to expand the roles of women in the SDF and some ASDF female members had asked to become such pilots. It usually takes three years to train fighter jet pilots. The ASDF hopes to start assigning women to fly fighter jets by the end of 2018. In other areas of the SDF, female members are not allowed to join GSDF front-line units that may face close combat, or operate GSDF tanks or MSDF submarines. END