Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology plans to launch a R&D programme in 2015 in line with efforts to commercialise domestically manufactured next-generation passenger aircraft by 2030.

Officials at the technology ministry were quoted as saying that the government will take up an initiative to boost the domestic aircraft industry.

The Japanese aircraft industry currently has a 4% share in the global market and is valued at $9.68bn.

"The government will take up an initiative to boost the domestic aircraft industry."

With plans to increase the country’s market share to 20%, the government is promoting the development of domestically manufactured aircraft and expanding the industry tenfold.

In order to implement the plans, the technology ministry plans to work closely with the ministry of economy, trade and industry, as well as the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism.

The project aims to develop a small-sized aircraft with a capacity to accommodate approximately 230 passengers.

Planned to be built using domestic parts, officials have said that the aircraft will feature high-output engines, a light body and offer better fuel efficiency compared with the existing aircraft.

Experimental aircraft of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and MRJ jets would be deployed to conduct demonstration experiments.

Plans to upgrade the experiment facility at JAXA will be decided in the next fiscal year, which begins in April 2015.

Defence Technology