More than 370 residents of Japan’s Miyazaki Prefecture have filed a class-action lawsuit demanding a ban on nighttime and early-morning flights of the latest F-35B combat aircraft at the Nyutabaru Air Base located there. They are also seeking compensation from the state for noise-related damage.

The fifth-generation F-35B combat aircraft are intended to equip two Japanese light aircraft carriers that are currently undergoing modernization. Eight of these fighters are now stationed at Nyutabaru Base, but their number will eventually be increased to 42. The organizers of the lawsuit are particularly complaining about the noise generated during vertical landing drills by the F-35B onto a simulated aircraft carrier deck.

In 2017, a similar lawsuit was already filed with the Miyazaki District Court, which ordered compensation of more than 200 million yen (over $1.2 million at the current exchange rate) to be paid to local residents. However, all levels of the courts subsequently rejected the demand to halt the flights.

Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force currently has 55 F-35 aircraft in two variants — for conventional airfields and aircraft carriers — which are partly purchased from the United States and partly assembled domestically. In total, Tokyo will have 147 such fighters — more than any other ally of Washington.