Japan Wants To Develop Their Own Stealth Fighter

Prototype of the first Japan-made stealth fighter is pictured at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' factory in Toyoyama town

Reuters: Exclusive: Japan favors home-grown design for next-generation fighter after rejecting foreign plans: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan wants to develop a stealth fighter domestically, rejecting designs from Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co in the United States and Britain's BAE Systems PLC, three sources with knowledge of the program told Reuters.

That would put Japan's leading defense contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in the lead for a military contract worth more than $40 billion. The company has not submitted a design for the next-generation fighter, but developed Japan's stealth fighter technology demonstrator, the X-2, in 2016.

"Japan's stealth designs have performed well in tests so far," said one of the sources, who has knowledge of discussion about the new proposed plane, referred to as the F-3 or F-X.

A spokesman for Mitsubishi Heavy said the company would work with the government on whatever policy it decided to follow.

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WNU Editor: They have the means and resources to do it.