Japan’s Self Defense Forces consist of
Maritime, Ground, and Air forces with nearly 50,000 service members. While 24%
of the support members are women, only six percent of the enlisted troops are
female. There had never been a female captain for a combat vessel until 2016
when Miho Ohtani took on the role of the captain of Yamagiri in 2016.
Now, having been inspired by a fight-jet
movie Top Gun, a young Japanese woman has become a pilot of F15J, a
twin-engine, all-weather air superiority fighter. The fighter jet can load
eight missiles and reach top speeds of Mach 2.5 -- 2.5 times the speed of
sound.
It took over six decades since the Self
Defense Forces were created in 1954 to see a female captain of a battle vessel
and pilot of a fighter jet. However, the country has been seeing more women
take traditionally men dominated jobs, such as a truck driver and construction
worker. Will there be more female pilots when the sequence of Top Gun comes to
the screen next year?
=> What's your ambition?