TOKYO -- Last month, Japan succeeded in obtaining the green light from the U.S. State Department to purchase 150 air-to-air missiles that can be loaded on its F-35 fighters.
The principal contractor for the $293 million deal is Raytheon Technologies. The proposed sale of the AIM-120 missiles, the U.S. government said in a statement, "will improve Japan's capability to meet current and future threats by defending the Japanese homeland and U.S. personnel stationed there."