Exclusive: Japan to delay multi-billion
dollar fighter jet development - sources
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will delay a decision to develop
a new advanced fighter jet, four sources said, as military planners struggle to
settle on a design and officials splash out on new U.S. equipment such as
ballistic missile interceptors and F-35 stealth planes.
Faced with a growing military threat from North Korea and
increased activity by Chinese air force jets over the East China Sea, Japan is
under pressure to improve its defenses on two fronts.
Any delay to the new fighter, known as the F-3, will
raise a question mark over the future of what could be one of the world’s most
lucrative upcoming military contracts, estimated at more than $40 billion to
develop and deploy.
A decision after the first half of 2018 would be too late
for it to be included as a core program in a new five-year defense equipment
plan beginning April 2019 that Japan will reveal at the end of next year.
“The direction is for the F-3 decision to be put back,”
said one the sources who have knowledge of the discussion. The people who spoke
to Reuters asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to talk
to the media.
They said the decision, on whether to forge ahead as a
domestic program or seek international collaboration, would now likely come
after 2018.
“Regarding the F-3 decision, including whether we will
delay a choice, we have haven’t come to any conclusion,” a spokeswoman for the
Ministry of Defence Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency said.
SQUEEZE
Analysts estimate developing the F-3 could cost $40
billion, a figure described another source as an “initial cost.”
With a defense budget of around $50 billion that has
increased in the past few years at just under an annual 1 percent, that outlay,
even spread out over years of development, represents a major undertaking.
It would come at a time when Japan is spending a record
amounts on U.S. equipment, including Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 jet, Raytheon
defense missiles and Boeing Co and Textron Inc’s tilt-rotor Osprey troop
aircraft.
In 2013, Japan procured 118 billion yen ($1 billion) of
equipment through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system. By
last year, that outlay had quadrupled to 486 billion yen.
President Donald Trump in Tokyo last week called on Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe to purchase additional U.S.-made weapons as his
administration pushes Washington’s allies to contribute more to their joint
defense.
DUAL ROLE
For now, that defense is focused on countering the threat
posed by North Korean ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
Japan’s defense forces, however, want the F-3 to counter
growing Chinese air power in the skies over the western Pacific and East China
Sea where Tokyo and Beijing are locked in a territorial dispute.
Japanese fighters scrambled a record 806 times to
intercept Chinese planes in the year that ended March 31.
A second role for the yet-to-be-built fighter is to
reinforce Japan’s defense industry by giving Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI)
and its suppliers their first fighter jet program since Japan built its F-2
fighter two decades ago.
Mitsubishi Heavy, the maker of the World War Two-era Zero
fighter, in January 2016 tested a prototype jet, the ATD-X. Developed for
around $350 million, it was seen as the first step toward a new homegrown
frontline stealth fighter.
While support for a domestic-only program is strong among
some government officials, other bureaucrats are worried about the potentially
enormous expense of developing components from scratch. They support
international collaboration to share costs with overseas partners and tap their
technology.
“What we have now is a flying box” without all the
systems that constitute a fighter such as weapons and sensors, said another of
the sources.
Possible overseas partners include BAE Systems, a leading
designer of the high-altitude Eurofighter interceptor backed by the British
government, F-35 builder Lockheed Martin and Boeing, maker of the F-18 strike
fighter. All have responded to initial requests for information from Ministry
of Defence overseeing F-3 plans.
Reporting by Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by
Lincoln Feast
Original post: reuters.com
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Mitsubishi F-2: Details
Mitsubishi X-2 Shinshin (F-3 Prototype): Details
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