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.
Japan plans to begin development of its next homegrown fighter within five years, with the aim of beginning production under the designation F-3 around 2027. While the schedule suggests Japan may want to merge the F-3 into the U.S. Next Generation Tacair effort, Japan is laying the groundwork for going its own way by investing in stealth technology and building its own powerful fighter engine. IHI Corp. is to develop a technology-demonstrator engine of 15 metric tons (33,000 lb.) thrust, according to an official document.
NAGOYA, Japan — Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) forecasts sales of about 100 civil derivatives of its XC-2 aircraft in the next 30 years, should the manufacturer decide to proceed with such a program after completing the development of its military transport. The Japanese manufacturer has started building the first four series-production units of the XC-2, says a program official, and the country’s defense ministry is test flying two prototypes.
