Agence France-Presse, Japan’s defense ministry hopes to make a prototype of a next-generation stealth plane, the first new fighter jet designed by the officially pacifist country in 30 years, a report said July 24.
The ministry will include funds to develop the manned prototype in its budgetary request for the fiscal year from April 2008, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily cited anonymous defense ministry officials as saying.
Japan has been officially pacifist since its defeat in World War II but has one of the world’s largest defense budgets and has gradually been expanding its military role.
The defense ministry is hoping to keep its technology up to date and also gain an edge in negotiations with the United States when it selects new fighter jets, the best-selling newspaper said.
A defense ministry spokesman denied it had made the budgetary request but said it had not ruled it out either.
“But we have been studying stealth and other capabilities,” the spokesman said. “We are also working on a plan to study small aircraft. We will continue to work on these tasks.”
Japan has indicated it wants to buy F-22 Raptors, the latest U.S. Air Force jets built to evade radar detection at supersonic speeds.
U.S. law prohibits export of Raptors. But the United States flew Raptors to Japan earlier this year on their first foreign flight, showing its commitment to the two countries’ security alliance amid tensions with North Korea.
Japan and the United States already jointly design F-2 support fighters, but production is set to end in March 2012.
The Japanese government has not supported development of a domestic fighter aircraft since the F-1 support fighter jet in the 1970s.
F-15 fighter jets, which form the core of Japan’s fighter force, are being manufactured here under a license agreement with the United States.
The Yomiuri said development of Japan’s new prototype would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars over 10 years.
The design would not include installing weapons and it is unclear whether Japan would actually produce the prototype due to the huge cost of building a full aircraft, it said.
