Japan could get F-35 fighter technology from U.S.

Published 12:01 am Sunday, October 9, 2011

TOKYO — U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. has informed the Japanese Defense Ministry that should Japan choose the F-35 as its next-generation fighter jet, it would allow the Japanese defense industry to produce key components and assemble the engines for the jet, the Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

Lockheed Martin also told the ministry it would disclose some of the technologies required to manufacture the F-35 to the firms involved, sources said.

This would mark the first time that a country other than the nine that participated in joint development of the F-35 would be permitted to participate in the building of the fifth-generation fighter jet.

Lockheed Martin officials said the U.S. government had approved the disclosure of the F-35 technologies to Japan. The F-35 jet has the latest stealth or radar-evading capabilities, and is considered the most advanced fifth-generation fighter jet.

Japanese companies are currently only allowed to be involved in the final assembly process, as many of the aircraft’s technologies are highly confidential.

Now that Lockheed has decided that it would disclose some of the F-35’s technologies to Japanese defense firms, the F-35 may have an advantage over other candidates to become the next-generation fighter jet.