Way Reportedly Cleared for Japan to Participate in ‘Star War’ Program

The United States and Japan have reached an accord clearing the way for Japanese industry to participate in President Reagan’s “Star Wars” program, defense officials said Friday.

The agreement, created after 10 months of negotiations, will be signed Tuesday at the Pentagon by Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and Japan’s ambassador to the United States, Nobuo Matsunaga, said the officials, who asked not to be identified.

Memo of Understanding

Japan will become the fifth nation to formally support the Strategic Defense Initiative--the formal name of the “Star Wars” program--by signing a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. government.

The sources said the Japanese accord is similar to previous agreements with Israel, Britain, West Germany and Italy. It is designed to establish a framework under which Japanese industry can learn about research contracts and bid on them.

One Pentagon source said the agreement with Japan contains a section detailing unusually strict procedures for protecting classified research information.

In addition, it sets out procedures for resolving any disputes about property rights or application of “Star Wars” technology to civilian products, the source said.

The agreement on security procedures was considered particularly significant by U.S. negotiators because of the controversy involving Japan’s Toshiba Corp., which sold sensitive defense technology to the Soviets.

The Pentagon sources agreed that the new accord with Japan was unlikely to produce any substantial contract awards, at least in the near future.