Japan is considering a plan to limit — at least for now — exports to certain countries of finished defense equipment co-developed with other nations to its next-generation fighter jet, which will be built with Britain and Italy, sources have said.
The administration of Fumio Kishida and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are also examining an idea that the government submit proposals to the ruling bloc beforehand to seek individual approvals if it wants to export finished, co-developed defense equipment other than the jet to third countries, the sources added over the weekend.
However, it remains to be seen whether the government and LDP will be able to gain the understanding of the ruling bloc's junior partner, Komeito, which has been reluctant to relax restrictions to enable such exports.