Program To Begin Next Year, According To Sources

Japan is planning to begin test flights next year of its first domestically-produced stealth fighter, according to unconfirmed media reports.

The French News Service AFP relays a report from the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper that indicates a group of companies led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is developing the jet, which is said to be similar in capabilities to the F-35. A prototype could be flying as early as January, according to the report.

The paper reports that the equivalent of $384 million has been poured into the project.

The first flight would be the beginning of a two-year test program on the part of the Japanese Ministry of Defense. No decision on the acquisition of the plane would come before 2019.

The Japanese government recently loosened restrictions on the development of offensive weapons for export that have been in place since the end of WWII. The development of a domestic fighter comes as tensions rise between Tokyo and Beijing over competing claims to islands in the South China Sea.

FMI: www.mod.go.jp/e