日本成立NGF办公室，今年将选择合作伙伴

日本防卫省采购部门“采购、技术和后勤局”透露，日本航空自卫队少将Masahito Monma将担任办公室主任。

Maj. Gen. Masahito Monma of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force will head the office, said the defense ministry’s purchasing organization, the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency.

日本防卫大臣河野太郎（Taro Kono）对记者说：“目前，我们希望在今年年底前确定一个合作伙伴。”。

 “For now, we want to firmly decide on a partner by the end of this year,” Defense Minister Taro Kono told reporters.

他还表示，日本正在研究如何与拟议中的英国风暴计划合作，并补充说“从互操作性的角度来看，美国正变得越来越重要。”

Japan is looking at how it could cooperate with the proposed British Tempest program, Kono said, adding “The U.S. is becoming important from the viewpoint of interoperability.”

尽管河野没有提到这一点，但两国之间的选择也是在替代方案结构和日本预算负担之间的选择。

Although Kono did not mention the point, the choice between the two countries is also a choice between the alternative program structures and the burden on the Japanese budget.

在风暴计划上合作相当于某种程度上的联合开发，因此将与其他政府分担成本。（英国已邀请日本以外的国家加入）但是，由于美国没有未来的合作战斗机项目，与该国合作将意味着只需与那里的公司签约支持开发，也许还需要购买一些现成的美国系统，如数据链。

Working in the Tempest program would amount to some degree of joint development and therefore sharing costs with other governments. (Britain has invited countries other than Japan to join.) But, since there is no prospective collaborative fighter program in the U.S., working with that country would mean simply contracting companies there to support development and perhaps buying some off-the-shelf U.S. systems, such as a data link.

据报道，洛克希德马丁公司和波音是美国方面的另外两个竞争者。英国方面的领衔公司将是BAE系统公司。

Lockheed Martin and, reportedly, Boeing are the alternative contenders on the U.S. side. The leading British company would be BAE Systems.

《日经新闻》今年3月报道说，日本决定主要与美国合作伙伴合作开发NGF，与英国的技术合作有限。它没有透露任何消息来源。河野没有暗示有任何此类决定。

The Nikkei newspaper reported in March that Japan had decided to work mainly with U.S. partners in developing the NGF, with only limited technical cooperation with Britain. It cited no sources. Kono is giving no hints at any such decision.

日本希望在2022财年结束前致力于NGF的概念设计。这意味着，全面开发将在2023财年开始。定于21世纪30年代中期开始服役。

Japan wants to work on the concept design of the NGF until the end of fiscal 2022. That implies that full-scale development will begin in fiscal 2023. Entry into service is due in the mid-2030s.

政府尚未公布成立项目办公室的时间，但一名记者在河野新闻发布会上提到，4月1日是成立项目办公室的日期。部长没有纠正这一点，实际上就是证实了这一点。

The government has not announced the timing of the setting up of the project office, but a reporter mentioned April 1 as the  date at Kono’s press conference. The minister did not correct this, in effect confirming it.

据日本时事通讯社报道，该办公室将有30人。

The office will have 30 people, Jiji news agency reported.

三菱重工很可能在开发和建设NGF方面发挥主导作用。

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is likely to take the leading role in developing and building the NGF.

这条消息是Bradley Perrett在Aerospace Daily & Defense Report发表的文章。《Aerospace Daily & Defense Report 》是航空及国防领导人了解每日市场简报的主要渠道。获取有关国防、军事和民用航天类项目、预算及政策的最新重要情报。 点击此处查看有关Aerospace Daily & Defense Report更多消息。