Already essential pivot of the British Tempest program for which it must design a new generation turbojet, the British company Rolls-Royce would have, according to the confidences collected by a journalist from the Japanese site Asahi.com, joins the development team for the new Japanese next-generation hunter program currently codenamed FX. The British engine manufacturer will assist Japanese companies to develop the turbojet engine that will propel this 5th generation twin-engine fighter intended to replace the hundred or so Mistubishi F2s currently in service with the Japanese self-defense air force, as well as the F15J, thanks to a dimension of air superiority very largely marked in the initial works.
The information is fragmented concerning the FX program, Tokyo being particularly discreet about its development. In particular, it was the subject of tough competition between the American aeronautics industry, and in particular Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, and the British BAe and Rolls-Royce, to accompany Japan in this ambitious adventure, which would mark the he entry of the country into the very closed club of military aircraft manufacturers capable of fully designing a modern combat aircraft. For a long time, the British offer appeared only as a potential foil for American offers, but according to information obtained by Asahi, it would seem that London had succeeded in convincing Tokyo despite Japan's industrial and military proximity to United States.
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