U.S. asks Japan to pay Y1 bil for fighter jet info

Sunday 04th October, 10:53 AM JST

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Triple888 at 11:01 PM JST - 4th October

I thought Japan are the most important Asian allies to the US. Shouldn't this info be free of charge?
USNinJapan2 at 11:17 PM JST - 4th October

gogogo

The F35 has stopped being produced in America.

Come again?
dammit at 11:38 PM JST - 4th October

People with attitudes like that exhibited by Alphawolf here are what gives the US a bad name internationally. Along with the occasional war-mongering president of course.

In most cases it's a buyer's market. This plane is no exception, unless there's some kind of pressure on Japan to only buy military equipment of this calibre from the US. Pressure we don't know about. But hopefully the new PM is too sensible to obey any such nonsense. We'll see.
Antonios_M at 12:05 AM JST - 5th October

Just buy from Europe.
888naff at 01:26 AM JST - 5th October

So question for any military types: which is actually the better plane to go for out of the ones mentioned in the article or by others?

The article suggest "Japan is inclined to select the F-35 as it has the highest performance after the F-22."

But this is Japan Today, so I don't JT will be too offended if I said I aint going to take "their" word as an authority on this kind of matter.. so just out of curiosity, anyone know any better?
UnagiDon at 01:59 AM JST - 5th October

888naff;

The F-35 probably has the second-best stealth performance in the world after the F-22, but it is a multirole fighter with a big emphasis on strike, i.e. dropping bombs and firing missiles at ground targets. It is less of an interceptor or air-superiority jet which is what Japan really needs. But the decision to go with the F-35 has pros such as interoperability once the USMC, USN, and USAF star using it, and the decision to buy a non-US aircraft may be driven more by politics than capability. BAE seems to think they have a decent shot at selling the Eurofighter.
helloklitty at 06:07 AM JST - 5th October

Whatever they buy will become obsolete within a couple of years.
PepinGalarga at 06:17 AM JST - 5th October

it took decades of research and experimentation to produce the F-22 and F-35 jets.

If the Japanese want to take a shot at building one, as Ishihara recommended in his book 15 years ago, it would take them a few decades, and by then everyone here will be speaking Chinese... or North Korean haha...

Hey, Russia makes some good planes too...
nightvision at 07:09 AM JST - 5th October

Yeah, Japan should wait for China to pirate Stealth technology. Or they could find a really greedy American general who'd want to defect(!).
888naff at 07:27 AM JST - 5th October

thanks for the info unagidon. I guessed that the eurofighter could be in the running as from what (little) I know its was designed for fast take and quick interception and far range missile battles/dog fights and missile interception. I guess the benefits of stealth can have more benefits for surprise attacking (as well as hiding) so maybe some might argue not in Japan's constitutional remit to be going after stealth planes... what are they going to use them for?

I think BAE are under investigation for bribing customers...
sakurasuki at 07:51 AM JST - 5th October

The soon Japan buy this fighter and its technology the soon Japan can poke uncle Kim without even him knowing you was there.
Yelnats at 12:01 PM JST - 5th October

The money is a covert way of investing in the jet.
NeoJamal at 02:54 PM JST - 5th October

Gripen, Rafale, Typhoon. Other choices are out there. Even the Boeing X-32 that lost out to the F-35's prototype X-35 on the US bid for the JSF is a feasible choice if a 5th gen. STOVL fighter is what Japan wants.
kwatt at 05:34 PM JST - 5th October

Fighter Jet information costs 1 billion yen. That is very ridiculous. It sounds like 1 billion yen for breakfast in some countries. In other words, that is called "Bottakuri"
kwatt at 05:57 PM JST - 5th October

I just wonder if the US informed Japan that the information costs 1 billion yen before showing the information to Japan. If not, that is bottakuri.