Japan said to favor home-grown design for next-generation fighter

It seems Japan is looking to diversify their reliance on the US for defence. Can't say I blame them after the way Trump has treated them. The F-35 is outrageously expensive and experts are saying that manned fighter jets will soon be obsolete. Japan might be better off spending their resources developing unmanned drones.

Good, by the time it is ready war will have been abolished if the Mitsubishi mid-range Jet history is anything to go by.

Preparing a strong defense.

kai yamanakaToday  10:25 am JST

Good, by the time it is ready war will have been abolished if the Mitsubishi mid-range Jet history is anything to go by.

You're probably right! First prototype ready by 2045, and rendering service around 2060 would be a good bet.

Mitsubushi, when will the regional jet fly commercially.

Well, with a bottomless pit stashed with taxpayers yen and kuroda printing round the clock. There is no budget constraint. What matters is that it is kokusan (made in Japan) as experts will deliberately point out on TV.

More money down the drain.

Apparently, Mitsubishi's battering ram will be ready for service by next year.

WAPOS. No chance. How is Japan going to produce anything that will take on Russian military aircraft? Or even PRC fighter aircraft?

NOPE.

Maybe it sprouts arms and legs?

mitsubishi can't even make a commercially viable long haul jumbo...

it's hilarious!!

...U.S companies, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, are still potential partners, the sources said...

More like subtle soliciting of brown envelopes from potential partners...

@wtfjapan lol

The Allies thought the same about the Zero. Russian Migs have their limitations too. Can’t say it looks particularly stealthy but looks can be deceptive. Signing on to the Tempest project would be the best longer term plan for Japan.

Now hold on... here a moment or two... Japan, is going to develop its own Attack Military Specialist Hardware and with current Law changes can go on the offensive at the whim of those in power ? .... I don't think even Germany has been given that lease of Freedom. Given the connections between the Government and the local Far Right here, is this really a wise decision ?

Gfunk:

It seems Japan is looking to diversify their reliance on the US for defence. Can't say I blame them after the way Trump has treated them.

How has "Trump treated them"? Didn´t know anything has changed in the defense agreement.

I highly doubt Japan can independently develop the stealth jet program on the level of Russia and the US. Even China's J-20 is not truly a stealth jet, despite the Chinese state run propaganda. Japan has a slim chance of developing one, especially their industrial capacity is vastly inferior to the Chinese. Their technology level ain't on the American or Russian level, either.

This will be a waste of taxpayer money. I will not be surprised that if someone found out that this new stealth jet is simply a rip-off of F-35, which Japan took an American jet to make it theirs. For nationalist propaganda in the Abe camps.

Looks just like an American fighter jet from the 1980’s.

Sorry a Japanese plane is not going to be a match for a Russian mig

Preparing the war??