The World - News from March 31, 1989

Japan awarded an $81-million contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to design the FSX fighter plane, although no final agreement with the United States on the joint project has been reached. The contract includes groundwork for a design based on the U.S.-built F-16 warplane, a spokesman for Japan’s Defense Agency said. In Washington, the White House said that major issues remain unresolved in the proposed U.S.-Japan accord, including who gets patents derived from the project. Japan had set today as the deadline for Washington to make the final commitment to get the project under way.