Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Stealth Military Power

Japan is a major military power in its own neighborhood despite its pacifist constitution based on Japan's technology and raw economic power. Defense spending is just 1% of GDP, but it buys a lot of local defense.

Denied the F-22, Japan will build theire own stealth fighter--and don't doubt they can do it:

A senior military official says Japan is on track to test a domestically designed prototype stealth fighter in three years.

China's "peaceful" rise isn't viewed so benignly by China's neighbors. China might want to think about how their advances in defense capabilities worry neighbors.

And maybe consider that a Japan worried enough to build stealth fighters could also become worried enough to build nuclear weapons. Don't doubt Japan could do that relatively quickly.