ACROSS THE AP POOL
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto (left) speaks at a joint press conference after a Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) signing rite with British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (right) at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo.
TOKYO (>>AP) — Defense ministers from Japan, Britain and Italy signed an agreement on Thursday to identify a joint organization to develop a new advanced fighter jet, as the two countries strive to cooperate in the face of growing threats from China, Russia and the North. Korea.
The three countries agreed last year to merge their previous individual plans (for Japan’s Mitsubishi F-X to succeed the retired F-2s evolved with the U. S. ) to merge with the U. S. The U. S. Navy and Britain’s Tempest will be used to produce the new fighter jet to be deployed in 2035.
Japan, which is strengthening its military, hopes to have a greater ability to counter China’s growing assertiveness and allow Britain to have a greater presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Defence Minister Minoru Kihara, at a joint press conference with his British and Italian counterparts, Grant Shapps and Guido Crosett, said that the joint advance of a high-performance fighter jet “is indispensable to ensure air superiority and enable effective deterrence”, at a time when Japan is facing a fundamental problem: an increasingly harsh security environment.
Kihara said that no country can protect itself today, adding that securing the generation and investment needed to expand a complex fighter jet carries wonderful risks. The joint trilateral Global Combat Air program is a “historic program,” he said, allowing the three countries to paint in combicountry to create a new fighter jet while reducing risk.
Under the plan, a joint framework called the International Government Organization will manage the personal sector joint venture, which includes Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy, Britain’s BAE Systems PLC and Italy’s Leonardo, to oversee the development of the plane. The organization aims to divide the paintings into other areas. , such as engine and avionics.
The organization, known as GIGO, will be headquartered in Britain and headed by a Japanese official, and the joint venture will be led by an Italian representative, Kihara said. The top posts will rotate every few years, Japanese defense officials said.
Japan is moving ahead despite delayed approval at home to ease its current policy that bans the export of lethal weapons. The restriction under Japan’s postwar pacifist Constitution does not allow the country to sell a jointly developed fighter jet and possibly complicates the project, since Britain and Italy hope to be able to sell the new combat aircraft.
A Japanese government panel discussed easing military sales and agreed to ease restrictions on the movement of generation and authorized equipment. But it recently postponed until early next year a resolution on the policy on joint fighter jets.
Defense officials declined to talk about how the scenario might affect the joint project.
This assignment is the first time Japan has participated in a multinational organization to expand new military equipment.
To counter developing threats from China, North Korea, and Russia, Japan has expanded its defense partnerships with countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Indo-Pacific, Australia, and the Philippines.
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