Tempest, Japan ready for an agreement with the United Kingdom and Italy
According to Nikkei, Japan has entered the final stages of talks with the UK and Italy to jointly develop and build a next-generation air combat system
Japan has entered the final stages of talks with the UK and Italy to jointly develop and build a next-generation fighter.
The countries are discussing whether to integrate Japan's FX fighter jet program with the Tempest project, being developed by the UK and Italy with BAE Systems as team lead with Rolls, Royce, MBDA UK and Leonardo UK. Meanwhile,
This was reported by the Nikkei newspaper, specifying that Tokyo will also consider revising its export rules to allow the sale of defense equipment abroad, hoping to reduce the development costs of the new aircraft and boost the defense industry. national.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force plans to deploy the fighter starting in 2035. Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, British giant BAE Systems and Italian defense group Leonardo will oversee development.
A formal deal is expected later this year, Nikkei said . This will be the first time Japan has collaborated with Europe to develop a fighter jet.
Meanwhile, on November 18, Paris, Berlin and Madrid reached an agreement on starting the next phase of development of the FCAS, a parallel project for a European sixth generation fighter.
All the details.
AT WHAT POINT IS THE TEMPEST
Announced at the 2018 Farnborough International Air Show, Tempest was and has since made significant progress with a demonstrator currently under construction.
Italy is a partner together with the United Kingdom in the Tempest program for the development of a sixth generation air combat system. In 2020 UK, Italy and Sweden signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the project. The three national industries include the major defense companies of the UK (Bae Systems, Leonardo UK, Rolls Royce and MBDA UK), Italy (Leonardo Italia, Elettronica, Avio Aero and MBDA Italia) and Sweden (Saab and GKN Aerospace Sweden). But the project could then expand to other partners. During last July's Farnborough Air Show, the UK announced it was conducting "joint conceptual analysis" activities with Italy and Japan on technologies to be integrated into future combat air platforms.
THE TOKYO ENTRANCE
The new Japanese fighter is expected to be the successor to the Mitsubishi F-2, which was developed jointly with Lockheed Martin. The Japanese Ministry of Defense had originally planned to cooperate once again with the US company. However, Lockheed's refusal to share sensitive technology information has raised concerns about aircraft maintenance nationwide after deployment, Nikkei reports.
This provided ample incentive for Japan to initiate its first defense partnership with Europe. The Japanese government has taken steps to increase cooperation with NATO. It plans to sign a facilitation agreement with the British government to facilitate holding joint military exercises, elevating the relationship between the countries to a quasi-alliance.
THE AIR COMBAT SYSTEM COLLABORATION (FX TEMPEST INTEGRATION)
The planned collaboration will draw on each company's technology strengths. Bae has solid experience in combat aircraft, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon with Italy, Germany and Spain (also exported to Saudi Arabia). The input from Italy's Leonardo, an expert in sensor technology, should give the aircraft the edge Tokyo is seeking, according to the newspaper.
In addition, the engines will be produced by Japan's IHI and Britain's Rolls-Royce, while the radar technology will be developed jointly by Mitsubishi and Leonardo's UK subsidiary.
In conjunction with the fighter's development, Japan will consider easing restrictions on the export of defense equipment.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/tempest-giappone-pronto-accordo-con-regno-unito-e-italia/ on Fri, 25 Nov 2022 07:39:37 +0000.