The Japanese company is a key participant in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), which aims to deploy a frontline fighter by 2035. Its construction plans are a sign that the project is moving beyond government agreements and preliminary design into an industrial build-up.
"My sense is that it could begin contributing to earnings around fiscal 2029 or 2030, or perhaps a year before that," Kenichiro Fujimoto said in an interview. The company will receive compensation for deploying personnel and building prototypes, he added.
GCAP is led industrially by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) in Japan, BAE Systems PLC (BAES.L) in Britain and Leonardo (LDOF.MI) in Italy. Canada has joined as an observer, while Germany and Saudi Arabia have been discussed as possible additional partners, although project officials have said new entrants must not delay the 2035 rollout target.
The Japanese maker of radars and missiles is seeking to increase annual defence business sales by more than half to 690 billion yen ($4.4 billion) by March 2031.
The company expects exports to account for a significant portion of that growth, including GCAP work, equipment for the Mogami-class warships Japan will supply to Australia and components for AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles made by U.S. defence company RTX Corp (RTX.N).
Japan in April eased decades-old restrictions on arms exports in a bid to strengthen its domestic defence industry as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East strain Western weapons production.
"There is nothing specific I can disclose, but at the macro level, the possibility exists," he said.
($1 = 157.7100 yen)
