Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
A year ago, the future turboprop market seemed cutthroat, with possibly many overlapping competitors that could ruin each other’s profitability. Now competition for the next decade looks likely to be less fierce, since only one of five projects for new aircraft has moved ahead.
First, Japan decided in April to drop its arms export ban in order to join international weapons programs. Then, July 1, it loosened its military operations policy, so its armed forces could fight to defend an ally. Now it is building a strategic relationship with Australia, which is reacting warmly to Tokyo’s approach. The common factor behind all of this is, of course, China.
Japan has given a hint about the likely configuration of its proposed amphibious landing ships, with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and other officials visiting a U.S. Navy Wasp-class vessel in San Diego. Amid a general strengthening of the Japanese navy’s aviation capabilities, there seems to be significance in the decision to inspect the USS Makin Island, one of the U.S. Navy’s assault ships configured with an island superstructure and full-length flight deck.
