Japan’s leading daily, the Yomiuri Shimbun, has a long editorial (see Japanese-British security ties must be strengthened) on UK PM David Cameron’s meeting with Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda on Tuesday, but details of exactly what the potential partners are going to cooperate on remain scarce.

BAE Systems M-777

My sources tell me that there is quite a bit of regret in some sections of Japan’s political and military establishment for choosing the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightening II multirole fighter over the Eurofighter Consortium’s Typhoon, whose development is being led by BAE Systems. Analysts not troubled by ties to the U.S. who seem pretty neutral, question last December’s decision to buy American after a long and lengthy RFP say that the Typhoon, which while expensive could work out considerably cheaper than the F-35, would have actually suited Japan’s needs more.

With the cost outlook for the F-35 seeming to worsen every time you care to look, (see  Japan F-35 deal unchanged, Japan May Cancel F-35 Buy if Cost Rises, or just Google search “F-35 Canada”!)  one senior source in the UK Defense establishment called Japan’s purchase of the F-35 not so much a license to assemble the vaunted but troubled 5th generation stealth fighter so much as “a license to write a blank check” to the Americans.

The article reaches the same sort of conclusions Andrew Chuter and I printed last week:

“Small equipment, such as chemical protective suits, is considered a strong candidate at the initial stage of the joint development between Japan and Britain. The British side suggested a helicopter as a candidate. We hope the two countries will study and select a program advantageous to both countries.”

The article also contains some disturbing information about those perpetually cast Japan as some sort of nationalist warmongering nation not weaned of/ harboring secret intentions to regain past imperial pretensions aided and abetted by the U.S.

“To the Defense Ministry’s knowledge, 35 tank-related companies, 26 vessel-related companies and 21 fighter-related firms have either withdrawn from the defense industry or gone bankrupt since 2003.”