G E to Supply Jet Engines for Japan’s FSX

TOKYO — General Electric Co. will build the engines for Japan’s FSX jet fighter, a spokesman for the Japanese Defense Agency said today.

The F-110-GE-129 engine was chosen because its performance would suit the FSX’s low-altitude missions and Japan’s short runways, the spokesman said.

GE won the contract over United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney in a three-year bidding process.

The value of the contract was not disclosed. Japan plans to deploy about 130 of the aircraft by the late 1990s.

Japan and the United States agreed last year to develop the jet fighter, which is based on General Dynamics Corp.’s F-16.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the prime contractor for the FSX; General Dynamics, Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries have been designated subcontractors.

The Pentagon supports the joint project, but critics in Congress and some U.S. trade officials have said it will give away American technology and allow Japan to develop an aircraft industry that could compete with U.S. manufacturers.

Analysts say development of the plane could cost more than the original estimate of $1.2 billion, mainly because of rising research and materials costs in the United States.