More than 370 residents of Japan's Miyazaki Prefecture have filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to ban nighttime and early morning flights of F-35B fighter jets from Nyutabaru Air Base and demanding compensation for aircraft noise, TASS reports.
According to the plaintiffs, their main concern is the noise generated during vertical landing training conducted by the F-35Bs, which are intended to operate from Japan's upgraded aircraft carriers. The base currently hosts eight of the aircraft, with plans to increase the fleet to 42.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force currently operates 55 F-35 fighters of two variants. Tokyo plans to acquire a total of 147 F-35s, which would give it the largest fleet of the aircraft among US allies.
By Jeyhun Aghazada
