Sunday, April 21, 2019

A Joint U.S. - Japanese Effort To Build The Next Generation Fighter Jet?


Japan News/The Yomiuri Shimbun: U.S. offers Japan secret info for development of F-2’s successor jet

The United States has proposed disclosing some of the top-secret details of its state-of-the-art F-35 stealth fighter jet to Japan to encourage joint development of an aircraft that will succeed the Air Self-Defense Force’s F-2 fighter, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The ASDF also has some F-35s. The U.S. plan, which was proposed to the Defense Ministry, would open the door to a jointly developed successor jet based on the F-35 and other fighters, which would be one of the world’s leading fighter aircraft.

According to Japanese government sources, the United States has indicated a willingness to release confidential details about the software installed in the F-35 airframe to control parts including the engine and the missiles. If the F-35 software, currently held exclusively by the U.S. side, is diverted to the F-2 successor aircraft, the United States will disclose the source code to the Japanese side.

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WNU Editor: The U.S. is clearly committed in building a long term military relationship with Japan.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

First off, Japan is enmeshed in the missile defense technology as it makes components for the Standard IRBM interceptor. So deep technology sharing isn’t new.
Second there is zero chance the US is giving up secrets unless Japan is giving up some of its own precious secrets. Laser optics? Battery tech?

RussInSoCal said...

Sounds like a good trade to me. Its all about defeating Communist China.