Japan is considering building its own fighter jets after years of playing second fiddle in a US construction partnership, a report said yesterday, in a move likely to stoke fears of its military resurgence among Asian neighbors.
Japan’s attempt in the 1980s to build its first purely domestic fighters since World War II faced US resistance and resulted in joint US-Japanese development and production of the F-2, the Nikkei Shimbun said.
However, joint F-2 production ended more than two years ago and the last of the fighters are due to be retired from Japan’s air defense force in about 2028, it added.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense plans to seek about ￥40 billion (US$387 million) in state funding for the next fiscal year, which starts in April next year, to test experimental engines and radar-dodging stealth airframe designs for a purely Japanese fighter, the report said.
According to its medium-term defense program, the Tokyo government will decide by the 2018 financial year whether to go ahead with the all-Japanese fighter project.
There is a growing need for Japan to develop a long-haul, highly stealthy fighter jet in the face of China’s increasing assertiveness in the East China Sea, where the two countries are locked in a dispute over a group of Tokyo-controlled islands, the Nikkei said.
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet proclaimed the right to go into battle in defense of allies — in a highly controversial shift in the nation’s post-war pacifist stance.
Japan denies its intent is anything other than defensive.
The defense ministry started work four years ago on the so-called Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X (ATD-X) plane to explore the project’s feasibility by studying lightweight airframe designs and built-in missile-firing mechanisms, the Nikkei said.
Japan is is due to start testing experimental engines for the ATD-X in January next year and the stealth airframe designs in April, the report said.
The ministry hopes to develop the actual engines for the project in cooperation with IHI, Mitsubishi Heavy and other defense contractors in about five years.
Developing a purely domestic fighter is estimated to cost a ￥500 billion to ￥800 billion, the report said.
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS