If all goes to plan, Japan will decide in the next few months how to acquire a fighter for the 2030s. The defense ministry wants to launch full-scale development in the fiscal year beginning April 1,2019, and hopes the first prototype will fly in 2025, according to local researchers.But the schedule may not hold. If one local media report is correct, the decision on how to proceed will be pushed into the five-year defense acquisition planning period beginning with fiscal 2019. The delay might bring the program closer to alignment with the plans of potential international partners. Developing a new fighter, not an upgrade, is reportedly the current focus.
展开▼
