Rejecting designs from Lockheed Martin, Boeing and BAE Systems, Japan is planning to develop a stealth fighter domestically.

The new fighterwill replace the Japan Air-Self-Defense Force’s (JASDF) Mitsubishi F-2 (Picture source: Jerry Gunner)

On April 1st, the Defense Ministry-affiliated Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency  et up a dedicated team to develop the successor to Japan’s retiring F-2 fighter jet. 

Proposals from Lockheed, Boeing and BAE “were judged not to have met our needs,” said an official at the Japanese defense ministry’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA). “No decision has yet been reached on the airframe, the aircraft itself without the systems that make it fly” he added.

Japan's MoD plans to procure up to 100 new fifth-generation air superiority fighters by the end of the 2030s.