U.S. Will Help Develop Fighter Plane for Japan

Japan and the United States signed an agreement to begin a multibillion-dollar joint venture to develop a state-of-the-art jet fighter for Japan’s air defense.

The agreement, signed Tuesday, calls for St. Louis-based General Dynamics Corp. and three Japanese companies--Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.--to jointly develop the new fighter based on the General Dynamics F-16.

The combined cost of development and production of 100 fighters is estimated at $8.3 billion.

The United States has agreed to shoulder from 35% to 45% of the development cost for the new plane, an official said.

Japan originally wanted to develop the new fighter without assistance from U.S. contractors, but Washington insisted that Japan purchase a U.S.-developed aircraft to help reduce its massive trade surplus with the United States.

The agreement, included in the memorandum of understanding signed by Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield, stemmed from an accord reached last June between Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci and former Japanese Defense Agency chief Tsutomu Kawara.

Yotaro Iida, president of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, said the new fighter will be a “symbol of U.S.-Japanese cooperation.”

To satisfy Japan’s insistence that development of the new fighter be conducted under Japan’s initiative, Mitsubishi was named the prime contractor.

General Dynamics and two other partners, Kawasaki and Fuji, were designated as sub-contractors.

Japan’s Defense Agency plans to develop an advanced model fighter equipped with air-to-ground missiles to replace aging F-1 ground support fighters currently in service.

The agency was alloted $88 million in the current fiscal budget to begin research and development on the project.

Agency officials said plans call for development of the new fighter by fiscal 1996, with deployment starting in fiscal 1997.