P.M. BRIEFING : U.S.-Japan Firms Agree on FSX
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TOKYO — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and General Dynamics Corp., maker of the widely used F-16 warplane, have reached final agreement on developing the FSX jet fighter for Japan’s air force, the Japanese company said today.
The joint project was approved in principle by the two governments last year but has been plagued by U.S.-Japanese wrangling. The Reagan Administration pressured Tokyo into building the plane with an American company rather than the Japanese developing the plane by themselves.
U.S. congressional opposition forced renegotiation of the deal as previously laid out in a 1988 pact after critics said it would give Japan advanced U.S. technology that it could use to compete in making commercial aircraft.
St. Louis-based General Dynamics, the No. 2 U.S. defense contractor, is to handle 35% of the $7-billion project to build 120 aircraft.
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