Breaking! Japan picks F-35...

via Reuters...

(Reuters) - Japan picked Lockheed Martin's F-35 jet as its next mainstay fighter, choosing the radar-evading plane over combat proven but less stealthy rivals, as concerns simmer over North Korea after the death of leader Kim Jong-il and as China works to introduce its own stealth fighters.
Tuesday's decision comes as a shot in the arm for Lockheed Martin's F-35 program, which has been restructured twice in the past two years, and is expected to increase the odds that South Korea will follow suit with its own order for 60 fighters.
The F-35, which is in an early production stage, competed against Boeing's F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon, made by a consortium of European companies including BAE Systems, for a deal that could be worth up to $8 billion.
"This program badly needed an endorsement like this, particularly one from a technically respected customer. But there are still many complications, especially price tag and work share demands," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group.
He noted the F-35 program is facing tough scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and defense officials who need to trim hundreds of billions of dollars from the U.S. defense budget over the next decade.
Japan, which counts the United States as its key security ally and regularly conducts joint military drills with U.S. forces, had been widely expected to choose the F-35 due to its advanced stealth capability and U.S. origin.
Fighter jets' stealth technology has drawn heavy attention in Japan since China, which has a long-running territorial dispute with Japan, in January confirmed it had held its first test flight of the J-20 stealth fighter jet.
North Korean state TV announced on Monday that Pyongyang's 69-year-old leader had died on Saturday from "physical and mental overwork."
(Additional reporting by Andrew Shalal-Esa, writing by Leika Kihara and Linda Sieg; Editing by Michael Watson and Edwina Gibbs)