Japan and Britain plan to collaborate on researching technology for air-to-air missiles that could one day be loaded on the F-35 stealth fighter jets to be acquired and operated by the Air Self-Defense Force, Japanese government sources said Wednesday.
The envisioned collaboration between the two countries will be signed off on by Cabinet ministers at a meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday, along with a proposal to export Japanese-made parts of a surface-to-air missile to a U.S. defense company, the sources said.
If finalized at the meeting, they are likely to be the first NSC decisions on arms export policy since an embargo on the export of defense equipment and related technology was eased in April under the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.