TOKYO/BERLIN ¨C In a fresh bid to win its first major foreign arms deal since World War II, Japan is proposing its P-1 submarine hunter for a French-German project to develop a marine surveillance aircraft, two Japanese government sources said.
Discussions between the three governments began last year. Japanese officials also asked Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which makes the P-1, to discuss possible partnerships with France¡¯s Dassault Aviation and Thales SA , said the sources, who have direct knowledge of the proposal but were not authorized to speak to the media.
¡°If they try and build it from scratch it will cost a lot and their potential market is small, even if Spain or other European countries buy it,¡± one of the sources said of the European project.
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