On March 15, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner, Komeito, agreed to relax the country’s strict defense export rules, paving the way for Tokyo to allow the international sale of the next-generation fighter jets being co-developed with the United Kingdom and Italy. In the current Japanese Diet, the LDP-led coalition government … Read more
On December 14 in Tokyo, the defense ministers of Japan, the United Kingdom, and Italy signed an epoch-making international treaty on the establishment of a joint organization to develop their new sixth-generation fighter jet. In a joint leaders’ statement in December 2022, the three countries announced their intention to jointly pursue development of a next-generation … Read more
Japan’s biggest defense company, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), has outlined plans for future growth through development investment in new major national defense projects, including standoff missiles and a joint next-generation fighter program with Britain and Italy. In a rare move, on November 22, MHI held a defense business briefing session at its Tokyo headquarters, inviting … Read more
The foreign and defense ministers of Japan and the United Kingdom have agreed on a series of measures to further deepen their bilateral defense cooperation through joint exercises and a project to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet. The fifth Japan-U.K. Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting, informally known as “two-plus-two” talks, took place on November … Read more