 |
| Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin (File Photo) |
By Ankit Panda
Although it’s committed to the F-35, Japan may still build indigenous stealth fighters.
According to reports out of Tokyo, Japan might begin indigenously building its own fighters, taking greater initiative within the framework of its defense cooperation with the United States. The news is likely to raise concern in China and elsewhere around the region that Japanese militarism may be on the upswing. Previous Japanese attempts to experiment with domestic fighters were met with resistance from the United States, but Japan and the U.S. have jointly collaborated on fighter projects, including the F-2.
According to Defense News, Japans’ “defense ministry plans to seek about ¥40 billion ($387 million) in state funding for the next year starting in April 2015 to test experimental engines and radar-dodging stealth airframe designs for a purely Japanese fighter.” According to Tokyo’s plans, its near-term plan (over the next four years) is to study the financial viability of going with a fully indigenous program. The strategic necessity for Japan to field a robust fighter force comes from a growing perceived threat from China, which has become more assertive about its territorial claims in the East China Sea where Japan and China dispute the sovereignty of several islets. For its part, Beijing regularly warns of impending Japanese aggression, harkening back to Japan’s historical aggression against China in the 1930s.
Read the full story at The Diplomat