Last month Japan was poised to choose the United States as its partner to develop the successor to the F-2 fighter jet, but now the Japanese Air Self Defense Force has revised those plans and will instead develop the next generation fighter based primarily on domestic technologies.
Japan’s defense industry had already envisioned playing a central role in the project, which is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars in a program that could last into the mid-2030s. The Japanese government had been in talks with the United States and the United Kingdom since last summer—and this included American contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing, as well as London-based BAE Systems. All three companies had been named as potential partners. Read More…
